Justice League: A Hope for the Future
by fireandice722
Summary: In a world where all metahumans have been killed off by President Lex Luthor, Batman is visited by a time traveler who tells him that Trigon and Darkseid are soon going to war to claim Earth, a planet left defenseless. With no hope left, Batman must find all the metahumans that have survived to form a new team of heroes to be Earth's guardians, a new Justice League.
1. Chapter 1

**Batman POV**

It's been ten years… Ten years since the Metahuman Purge that wiped the world clean of the heroes that sought to protect it. Ten years since there was any good news, and now, after a decade, perhaps luck might be on our side. Ten years without hope, ten years of fighting, now perhaps finally paying off.

Lex Luthor had killed all the metas who thought they could stand up to him. It all began when Superman went mad; the Kryptonian had killed half of Metropolis in a fit of insanity when he realized that his pregnant wife Lois had died in childbirth. Those who opposed super humans took this as a sign to assert control over the situation, and Lex Luthor led the protest. He became president of the U.S., and so came hell on Earth.

Luthor removed Cyborg's organic parts and scoured his complete data stash, discovering the identities of all the metahumans known to man. He began with the public execution of Clark Kent by Kryptonite lethal injection, but the people wanted metahumans eradicated completely; they wanted to feel safe, and Lex was willing to bend to their command.

With Cyborg's knowledge of all metahumans on the planet, Lex was able to kill most of them as they lived their civilian lives. Barry Allen was shot down at the CCPD HQ, killed before he could heal. Themyscira and Atlantis, both nuked, Amazons and Atlanteans both killed, Wonder Woman and Aquaman among them. The Watchtower was set ablaze, Martian Manhunter burned alive in space. Hal Jordan lost the will to live with the death of the Justice League, the ring abandoning him as he was sent to Belle Reve, where he was killed by a fellow prisoner.

With the death of all the major players, all metahumans tried to hide, but majority were killed by elite military with knowledge of their weaknesses. Lex Luthor's plan to eliminate metahumans eventually spread across the globe as all countries agreed that the metahumans posed a potential threat. The very few who survived the Metahuman Purge were the ones who had hidden in time or on another earth. No super powered beings were left, and the non-powered heroes were left to fight crime. Vigilantism was legalized to compensate for the loss of heroes, and now very few of us who truly fought for justice are left.

At first it was hard for me to adjust to the death of my friends, those who I had fought side-by-side with, but Lex Luthor's act was a double edged sword. With the death of superheroes came the death of supervillains as well. There is no need for super powerful beings because there is no super powerful threat to the world. At least, that's what I thought until _he_ came.

Eobard Thawne, a speedster from the 25th century, arrived a week ago. He came back in time to kill Lex Luthor before the Purge, but the speed force gave up on him, landing him ten years ahead of the date he intended, coming to a halt in time in Gotham. He told me of how he got his powers replicating his hero, Barry Allen's, accident in his timeline, so that he could reverse what had happened. Without any heroes to stand up to them, the armies of Darkseid and Trigon went to war to claim the planet, a war so devastating that it ravages the whole of the Earth, making the world a wasteland with very few humans left living. According to Thawne, the invasion is going to happen within the next five years.

Thawne came back to save metahumans, but he was too late. The earth is damned, or so I thought. Half an hour ago, a UFO landed in the middle of Blüdhaven, and the impact let off a powerful surge in the electrical grid of the city. Social media of multiple citizens of the city posted images of a spacecraft in a smoking crater, a pod eerily similar to the one Clark had shone me in the Fortress of Solitude.

A Kryptonian might be here on Earth, a being who could be just as strong as Superman. I have to get to him, before the government lackeys get to the pod. The Kryptonian might be able to get us to Lex Luthor, and we might just be able to end this nightmare.

* * *

Green Arrow and Nightwing accompany me, ready to fend off the military who will inevitably come to seek out the escape pod. Dick spins his batons and Arrow pulls out his bow and loads a shot, the both of them ready for a fight. The civilians who had been gazing at the Kryptonian spacecraft scatter away from our trio.

"Bruce, get the Kryptonian out of the pod, Dick and I will watch your back," Oliver says, as he begins to circle around the crash site.

Pulling out my laser cutter, I make swift work of melting the extremely cold ice that has frozen the cockpit shut. The cockpit's edges are heating up as I peel back the glass bit by bit, and what I see takes my breath away. I can hear faint breathing as I stare dumbfounded at a blonde Kryptonian, a few strands of hair stuck to her face. She wears a sleeveless, light blue version of Superman's armor, and seems to be in a coma. The House of El coat of arms gleams in the lamplight as I carefully peel back the rest of the now molten cockpit.

"She's… Wow…" Dick says, unsure how to respond to the alien girl in the pod. Before we can say anything else, the inevitable chopping of helo blades can be heard.

"This is the United States military. All civilians clear the crash site," we hear from announced from one of the incoming Blackhawks.

"We have to hurry," I tell them, scooping the blonde girl into my arms. "There's no way we can let her fall into their hands."

* * *

I've been planning this story for a long time and I was finally able to set it up the best way I think I could. The New Heroes storyline will touch on a wide range of DC Universe characters, and I can just about guarantee that a lot of fan favorites will see reimagining in this Elseworlds story. Please R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

**Kara Zor-El POV**

I awake being carried in the arms of a man in a gray suit and a mask with horns on his head, and I can't help but wonder if he is a demon who has come to take me, because it seems that wherever I am, Rao is not here. Two men seem to be guarding me and the man who is carrying me, one wearing a green hood with a bow and arrow and the other wielding batons, a blue symbol emblazoned on his chest. They fight off roughly a dozen men wielding what look like firearms, though the weapons look only vaguely like the ones used by the Kryptonian army.

They all speak gibberish, a foreign language that means nothing to me, including the man with the horned mask, who has noticed I am awake. When he sees my look of confusion, he suddenly changes his language. "My name is Bruce, we need your help." Kryptonese? How would he know my language?

"What is this? Where am I? Where is my cousin, Kal-El?" I ask him.

His eyes widen, and he answers, "Kal was killed by these men, you need to help us." I feel a sudden drop in my stomach as I hear the news. My baby cousin, dead?

"How can I fight them if I don't know how to fight?" I ask him. Instead of answering, he pushes me into the line of fire of the men he and his team seem to be fighting. I'm horrified that their weapons will shred me as I close my eyes, but I only feel a slight tickling sensation over my body. Opening my eyes once more, I realize the projectiles that they're shooting at me only bounce off harmlessly.

"Okay," Bruce says. "You're immune to their weapons, Kryptonian, now walk up to one of them and attack." Moving unsurely towards the armored men, I pull back my arm and thrust my fist forward at one of the men's face, the impact shattering the goggles over his face and sending him flying backward, his head slamming into the wall of a nearby building, his blood staining against it. The rest of his allies, scared of me, run towards what looks like an aircraft with blades atop it. The bladed vehicle lifts off and flies away.

Falling to my knees, all I can do is look at my hands and wonder what is going on. The hooded man and the one with the batons stare at me while they speak with Bruce in the gibberish language they were speaking in earlier. I try to hold them in, but tears begin to flow. My cousin, Kal, who I was supposed to protect, has died, I had witnessed the destruction of Krypton as I fled in a rocket, and now I'm on a different planet, with freakish power.

Bruce walks up to me, away from his friends. "It's okay. I knew your cousin, things will get better, I promise you." I instinctively put my arms around the horn masked man, and, surprisingly, he puts his arms around me, despite his cold demeanor. I cry into his caped shoulder and he tells me he understands what I've been through as his friends stand by, unsure what we are saying.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"Kara… Kara Zor-El," I tell him.

"We're going to take you somewhere safe Kara," Bruce says. "There are some very dangerous people who want you dead, and I won't ever let that happen. Not again."

 **Lex Luthor POV**

It takes nearly every single ounce of restraint in me not to go into a rage. In the period of time where metahumans were nonexistent, the soldiers got soft and thought things would be easy when they were to confront a metahuman once again. Nothing good lasts; I knew that there would inevitably be a hero who would manage to slip past and survive, but now that there has been a meta who lives, I am absolutely livid.

"Mr. President," Mercy says over the intercom, "Amanda Waller is here to see you."

"Send her in," I answer. The door to my office opens and the A.R.G.U.S. director walks in, her face somber. She knows what's coming.

"Mr. Luthor, you do know that A.R.G.U.S. had nothing to do with the failed retrieval of the-" she starts, but I cut off her sentence.

"I didn't ask for you to fire you. If I were going to relieve you off your job, I wouldn't even bother talking to your face. No, Amanda, you're here because I just wanted to talk to you," I say to her.

She eyes me suspiciously before answering me. "Okay, I'll bite Lex. What do you want?" she says, all respect in her voice gone as she realizes that I'm going to say something she probably won't like.

"You know that they love me. The country. All I've done for them. Employment rates up exponentially, half as many people on the streets, more rights for minorities, people of color, and women. Why would they not support me? Hell, I'm the first president to serve a third term; the only president who can say he's served for a decade," I say to her. "But do you know what got me here? How I got to where I am today?"

"The Metahuman Act," she says, clearly knowing what I was going to say.

"Precisely. The country was scared of them, the metas, the people who could touch the clouds, throw lightning, and travel miles in seconds. They know that 'super' in the word 'superhuman' means that these individuals are more than the normal man, but us mortals also know that 'superhuman' also has the word 'human' in it. So long as humanity persists, there shall be no man of true good and righteousness. These metas cannot be allowed to live because they are all dangerous, self-proclaimed heroes included. As we saw with Superman's incident in Metropolis, all it takes is a bit of misfortune to unhinge a man, but with powers like that… There's no telling how much harm such a creature could do. The country could have been in ruin if he didn't stop himself," I tell her.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asks.

"You of all people know this to be true, everything I just said, and this is why I'm going to ask your help," I answer.

"Anything," she says.

"I want Task Force X reinstated, effective immediately. This new Kryptonian cannot be left alive. I won't permit it," I command her. "This level of a threat needs to meet a team of killers won't hold back."

"And what if they don't want to?" she asks.

"Then all of you might as well be dead."


	3. Chapter 3

**Kara Zor-El POV**

It's been a month since Bruce took me in. He explained everything that was happening to the world, how so many people with powers, both good and bad, were ruthlessly killed, including my cousin, Kal. He told me stories of the person they called Kal-El; Superman, a beacon of hope, was ruined by an act that he committed in his darkest hour. He had lost the love of his life to such a minute error that he could never fix. After that, one man took it upon himself to take Kal's life and the lives of all others with power just to be safe. That man's name is Lex Luthor, and I hate him for killing my cousin.

Bruce, or as he was more broadly known as, Batman, told me that Kal-El was a hero; he saved lives as Superman and brightened up the world as Clark Kent. Bruce said that Superman is still seen as a symbol of morality and righteousness to some, but to others, he was seen as a monster who got what he deserved, in the end. I knew him as a child, a boy of only four years old. How could baby Kal, the child who cried for his mother on Krypton, possibly have become what they accuse him of being here on Earth?

Batman said it was imperative that I make myself known, make myself a symbol of reborn hope for those who cried once more for a savior. I had spent the last four weeks mastering my powers and learning the Earth language they call English. I knew my abilities-I could burn down hard metal with my eyes and freeze a whole man with my breath-the only problem was that I wasn't sure if I should continue my cousin's legacy after Lex Luthor had warped it so horrendously.

Because of my reluctance to become a new hero, Batman has decided to take me to a place other than his home, Wayne Manor, and the cave underneath. We take a ride in his Batmobile, traveling under the starless, smog-filled sky of Gotham. He takes me to an empty area called Crime Alley, and we stand in the rain, staring at the cracked cobblestone underneath our feet.

"Why have you taken me here?" I ask, shivering at the raindrops against my bare shoulders. "And where is everybody?"

"I scared them away years ago, claimed this is my own territory that criminals could never walk upon if they ever wished to walk again. This is where my crusade against crime began," he says, looking me in the eye, an intense look of pain under his mask. "I remember the night. My mother and father, happy as I shouted and jumped about excited by the movie we had watched," he continues, nodding to the vandalized theater next door. "We wanted to go home quickly, opting to walk through this alley instead of walking alongside the street. The man came out of the shadows; he pulled a gun out, a coward's weapon, and he shot them. Both of them. I said I would avenge them and I have been ever since. My struggle to cleanse the world of crime doesn't end at all, and it isn't limited to Gotham. Lex Luthor committed genocide and killed some of the greatest men and women I ever knew. He must be shown that what he did is not permanent."

He had never told me about what had happened to his parents. For the time I had known him, I had always wondered what made Bruce willing to risk his life as a vigilante, and now I know. "You're right, Lex Luthor deserves to be put in his place, but how can I know he won't be able to kill me too?"

"I know that you can't be the only metahuman on this planet. The rest are hiding, and they are exceptionally good at it. They need to have a symbol to stand behind, they need a new Superman, and you can do that as Supergirl," Bruce says.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to be what he once was," I say truthfully to Bruce, but he refuses to take no for an answer.

"Follow me," he says, walking near a chain link fence to a manhole covered by ripped up cardboard boxes. As he drops into the sewer and I cautiously float down after him, I am met with a glistening chrome circular door with a keypad in its center. Bruce opens the door with a twenty digit code, and I am met with a vast headquarters, like the Batcave but about a dozen or so times bigger.

"This is the Kryptonian? The one you were talking about?" a lanky teen boy says, approaching us with a hood covering his face, a cloak draped over the shoulders of his black and red armor.

"Yes. I'm Kara," I tell him, unsure what the customary Earth greeting would be. Batman ignores my lack of knowledge of Earth pleasantries and addresses the boy before us.

"Damian, why don't you show Kara and I where Eobard is? I want her to be able to talk to him," Bruce says.

"Yes father," the boy replies, silently leading us farther into the underground hideout.

* * *

This is more of a transitional chapter if anything, mostly composed of what Kara thinks of the whole situation. I had a lot of free time today, and I am already nearly done with chapter 4, a chapter that will introduce a lot more characters and which can be expected by tomorrow night at the latest. Please review if you enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter exists solely to introduce the Suicide Squad. I just want to say that if Harley seems OOC, it's because she's lost two people she loves, and my imagining of her character has been emotionally broken by losing Ivy and Joker.

* * *

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 **Harley Quinn POV**

I thought I was done working for them years ago. I'd had my heart trampled on, killed people I had once known, and I was sick of it all. They set me free, and I rejoiced, but now they have the audacity to bring me back in, and I hate them for it, not  
that I didn't hate them before.

Waller never failed to amaze me, her insensitivity always reaching new heights. Looking around at my fellow Squad in the prison cell, I know that they all hate her as much as I do. I have to be the one who remains optimistic, but how can that be possible  
with all the bitterness I have in me? Ivy, my girlfriend, was killed by the command of Lex Luthor, as well as my Mistah J, who I couldn't help but still have feelings for.

Luthor let me live because he knew I was part of Task Force X, and that I could be made into a hero in his twisted nation. The entire Suicide Squad did become a household name for our role in getting rid of metahumans by hunting them, but the notoriety  
had its pitfalls. Everyone either loved us or hated us, with no in between, no gray area.

Some saw us as people who stood up to metahumans, but they didn't know that half of us actually were metahumans. Killer Croc, Enchantress, Reverse Flash, Diablo, and Ivy were all metahumans who were part of the Suicide Squad, but they were killed. Lex  
never said anything about the members of Task Force X who were killed, and at one point I wanted to call out his hypocrisy. If only it weren't for the damn bombs in all our heads that they hadn't trusted us enough to remove, then I could have exposed  
him for the manipulative bastard he is.

The nanites in our heads are the only things keeping all of us from combining forces to break out together. Maybe Waller didn't take the bombs out because she knew she would probably need us to fight again; it sounded like something she would do. Something  
tells me there's something more to assembling Task Force X together again, though. She says it's a meta, but it must be a pretty powerful meta for her to be forced to unite the Suicide Squad again after ten years.

Seeing that the agonizing silence has to be broken, I decide to speak. "One helluva reunion huh?"

"Well, can't say that I'm sad that your sense of timing is still off Quinn," Boomerang says, a crooked grin on his face.

"I said I was through with them," Floyd says, eyes bloodshot. "Zoe doesn't know about this at all."

"They said I'd get to face Green Arrow again. Good enough for me," Cupid replies.

"I don't know about this," I chime in. "Waller wouldn't bring us together for no reason."

"Since when did you care Quinn?" Ravager says. "You've never cared about causing trouble."

"You have to know I was once a psychiatrist," I tell her. "I'm not stupid."

"But you aren't the wisest either," Black Spider replies.

"I'd say we do what Waller wants, we might get something good out of it," KGBeast adds.

"Everything changed after Superman died. Harley has a point, and you too Anatoli," he says, addressing KGBeast and I. "If we're gonna face a formidable foe, we could have a hefty payday.

"I don't care about money," Bronze Tiger says. "I'm gonna rip Waller's throat out for bringing me back to fight for Luthor. After Waller, Mr. President himself is next."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Speak of the devil. Amanda Waller, the woman every single prisoner in this room would kill in a heartbeat. We actually would if we wanted to lose our heads. Literally, I meant.

"What can you possibly ask of us now?" Floyd asks.

"Careful Deadshot. Flag and I both have the detonators. One push of a button and we can blow any of your damn heads off. The country might think you're all redeemed heroes, but I know you people could never change. Hell, Anatoli went back to being a hitman,  
Mick has robbed a few banks, and Digger here has been detained by Australian police roughly three or four times already," Waller says, just as sly as I remember.

"You did your homework, Waller, that much is clear, now explain what we are here for. Rose and I were done with this a long time ago. What matter is so desperate that you have to summon us again after so long?" Slade asks, never the one to beat around  
the bush.

"Mr. Luthor asked for me to bring you all together to hunt down a metahuman, a particularly powerful one at that. A Kryptonian ship crash landed in Blüdhaven, and there was a live passenger who had been in the pod. Batman was able to take her, and she  
scared off the retrieval team by killing one of them with a single punch," Waller says.

"Bloody hell," Boomerang says. "A Kryptonian? Not another one. I didn't sign up for this."

"There's more," Waller continues. "Decrypted tech recovered from the pod claims that the girl that Batman saved was the cousin of Superman."

"Which would mean she could be out for blood," Black Spider says, concluding her thoughts as she nods affirmatively.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather die now than fight a girl who could rip any of us to shreds," I say to them.

"Crazy and depressing as she now is, Quinn's right," Rose says. "We don't stand a chance against a Kryptonian, even with our numbers."

"That's why A.R.G.U.S. has gotten some tech from Cadmus to give to you," Waller says.

"Cadmus?" Floyd asks.

"An advanced sciences organization Mr. Luthor has been funding for a couple years now. Private, has never been leaked, and apparently Cadmus will have a spot in the history books according to the president," Waller explains. "All you need to know is that  
they have provided weaponry tailored to each your weapon choices, all made of synthetic Kryptonite."

"Kryptonite boomerangs? LAME!" I shout. It's just too funny to not point out.

"Shut up Harley!" Harkness growls, clearly pissed at my outburst.

"What do we get out of this Waller?" Bronze Tiger asks. "Cause I want a meeting with Luthor. He stands no chance against me, I will gut him like a-" Boom. Waller stands over Tiger's corpse, her smartphone in hand as she stares remorselessly at the dead  
man, whose head has left a pool of blood on the ground and a thin layer of smoke in the air.

"Your reward will be decided after the Kryptonian is killed. Now does anyone else want to test if their bomb is still functional?" Waller asks, answered with complete silence. "No one? Good." And with that, the devil herself leaves us with the corpse  
of a man we all once knew. It takes all my strength not to scream. Damn this.

* * *

Second chapter uploaded today! Please show some love with a review! We'll meet Batman and his allies, the Opposition, in the next chapter, as well as a tease for the next new metahuman who will appear in the story.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note that Eobard's suit resembles Wally West's suit in Rebirth, but Thawne's hair is blonde, and Supergirl's appearance is based off of Injustice 2**

* * *

 **Kara Zor-El POV**

Bruce's son, Damian, takes us down a narrow staircase at the back of the room, which is filled with weapon display cases. Descending lower into the base, we enter a room that looks very much like a prison block, with one prisoner standing in a thick glass cell. He wears a garish red suit with a silver lighting bolt in the center, with white lighting pulsing and sparking throughout his body. He seems tormented, as he is on his knees, hands pressed to his head. I then notice that parts of his body are blurring and unblurring randomly.

"What's happening to him?" I ask Bruce, horrified at the man's suffering.

"His name is Thawne. Eobard Thawne. He comes from a 25th century where two gods left Earth in ruin after a deadly war for power. The reason these gods, Darkseid and Trigon, fought for power of this planet is because of Luthor's purge of metahumans," Bruce explains.

"But how did Thawne manage to time travel four centuries in the past?" I ask.

"He had a purpose. A reason. The few humans left on Earth in his time were barely living off the ravaged land, and he wanted to go back to fix it all. Thawne studied history, and he found that Barry Allen, the Flash, had time traveling powers accessed through a temporal and dimensional spanning zone called the speed force. Thawne replicated the accident that granted Barry powers, made his own speed suit, and traveled through time to kill Lex Luthor before his rise to power," Bruce says.

"What happened?" I press.

"He broke down; his body wasn't used to the speed force. Most speedsters aren't even capable of time travel, so I'm surprised he was strong enough to make it this far back in time. He collapsed in Gotham roughly a few weeks ago and warned me of the impending invasion, which is going to happen some time in the next few months. For weeks now, the speed force has been pulling him in and out of itself. We don't know what's going on, but he's not responsive," Bruce says.

"He might not ever recover," Damian says bluntly.

"He came to warn us. With you, we can get the rest of the metahumans out of the shadows, and Eobard's sacrifice won't be in vain. If not for this planet, do it for Kal," Bruce says to me.

With a nod, I zoom out of the base, not explaining to Bruce or Damian what I plan on doing.

 **Batman POV**

I have no idea where Kara could have possibly went, so Damian and I head the monitor room, where Oracle is sitting in front of the Batcomputer.

"Kara went somewhere. Use the tracker I placed on her suit to find her," I say to Barbara.

"Okay, Bruce of little faith," Barbara says, typing in a command on the computer. "Well, she's moving too fast for you to even catch up to her," Oracle says, indicating a red blip moving quickly over the map of Gotham that is open on the Batcomputer.

"I hope she knows what she's doing," I say.

"Father, she's a bulletproof alien with super strength, Gotham should be no problem for her," Damian says.

"A news alert is live right now guys. You might want to see this," Barbara says, opening a live broadcast from Gotham Channel 52 News. Kara is in front of the camera, the collars of Two-Face and Penguin in each of her hands, the golden S shield on her chest shining in the lights of the studio.

"This just in, it appears a metahuman has dragged Harvey Dent and Oswald Cobblepot into the studio. She asked to be broadcast now," Vicki Vale says, her calm reporter's voice replaced by a shocked tone.

"Hello… People of Earth? My name is Supergirl, and I am the cousin of Superman," she says. What the hell is she thinking? "I was rescued a month ago by the Batman, and he told me of what had happened ten years ago. My cousin is dead, when I was supposed to be there to protect him, but I'm going to fix this by protecting the planet he called home. Something evil is coming, and I urge any metahumans who hide in fear to join me. The world needs heroes once more. We're not bad people, just misunderstood, and to prove myself, I brought in two of Gotham's most wanted. Please, if there are any of you out there, any metahumans who want to do good, find me in Gotham."

"You can't say she didn't get the word out there," Damian says snidely.

"Guys, it's spreading like wildfire," Barbara says, opening a social media algorithm on a different monitor. "Kara is all over the internet." As if on cue, Kara comes to a halt next to us.

"So, good job, right?" she says, hands on her hips. She didn't even break a sweat.

"I'm disappointed you didn't consult with me first, but it's a good thing that you did that," I tell her.

"Bruce," Kara says. "The Opposition is messaging right now."

"The opposition?" Kara asks.

"A group of vigilantes that oppose Lex Luthor. Bruce is their leader," Barbara explains. "The vigilantes forged an alliance a long time ago, but your arrival really makes the Opposition a worthwhile band of rebels."

Looking at the screen, I take the keyboard and decide that it's time for the Opposition to reunite in Gotham to help the metahumans who will inevitably come.

Guardian: Waiting for advised actions.  
Red_Hood: Likewise.  
Batman: Any available members come to Gotham now.  
Nightwing: On my way to Gotham.  
Red_Hood: Heading to base downtown.  
Green_Arrow: Coming now.  
Arsenal: Be there soon.  
Guardian: Will be there shortly.  
Huntress: I'll be there Batman.  
Wild_Dog: A Kryptonian? Count me in.  
Mister_Terrific: Heading there now.

"What now?" Kara asks.

"Now we wait for them to come. The Opposition and the metahumans who answer your call," I say.

* * *

Thawne will eventually become a major character of the story, and there will be another metahuman revealed in the next chapter for sure. I might change up some dialogue for this chapter, but please tell me if you think this chapter is good. Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

I feel like the previous chapter wasn't that well-written, but I do plan on rewriting if I can come up with better dialogue.

* * *

 **Jessica Cruz POV**

A decade ago, my life was changed in a matter of seconds. When Superman was executed and his death was televised, I was afraid of what Luthor would do. The world only got rougher and rougher, and the 21st century was filled with some of the most extravagant crimes in history. The inhuman heroes like those in the Justice League came into the public eye to combat the increase of cruel inhuman criminals.

The passing of the Metahuman Act that saw all metas killed affected me more than it should have. My fear of a world without superheroes was irrational, and still is. When I was a girl no older than ten or so year old, Superman first appeared, and I felt a sense of security that I had never felt so strongly in my life, a little girl who wasn't afraid of anything because she believed in the might of the men and women flying in the sky.

Even as a student in high school and college, I was carefree and undaunting because of my belief that these heroes would help me; then Metropolis happened, and my hero, the man I looked up to for years, decimated half of his home city. I saw the images of buildings in flames, walls torn down and crumbling, and bodies scorched and crushed. I saw Metropolis in ruin, yet I refused to accept that Superman could ever do something like this willingly.

Things only got worse for me after the newly elected President Luthor passed the Metahuman Act that would see all metas killed to prevent anything so tragic as Metropolis from happening again. After hearing of so many deaths, the execution of so many heroes I had once admired, I became deathly afraid of going outside my apartment. Without heroes, the wretched people roam the streets, unafraid of the police, no longer needing to be weary of the superhumans who had once brought justice where a badge couldn't.

Eventually my fear took over completely and I refused to go outside at all because I had heard of the threats the Justice League faced in life, and I didn't want to be a part of a world where evil could win, with a man afraid of what he didn't understand, couldn't understand, as president. My sister, Sara, cared for me, paying for everything I needed because she pitied me. Ten years later, here I am, still in my apartment.

It's just another lonely, dreadful night, when I get a call from my sister. Seeing that it's one in the morning, I figure she isn't calling to tell me to get help as she usually does so during the day. Answering the phone, I am met with an unusually excited Sara.

"Jessica! You won't believe what's happening, turn on the TV!" Sara squeals over the phone.

"Okay, okay, hold on," I answer groggily, fumbling for the remote in my room. Flipping on the TV, I am met with a shocking sight. A blonde girl holds Penguin and Two-Face at her feet, her hands gripping the scruffs of their necks as she reveals she is the cousin of Superman. Supergirl. The golden S on her chest shines like the symbol her cousin once wore, and I feel my stomach bubble with excitement and confidence as I see the Kryptonian teen zoom away, leaving the two criminals tied up on the set of Gotham News.

I drop the phone and without thinking I run, the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I scream with joy as I run alongside the New York streets, ignoring the strange looks I get from people as I pass by them. I run for what feels like hours as I smile the whole time, a facial gesture I couldn't remember having for years. I finally stop at an abandoned park, lying back down in the grass, laughing and panting as I feel my heart beating triumphantly.

A new hero has come and she's calling for all the others in hiding to come out and continue what the dead metahumans had once done. The world can be safe again with new heroes to stand behind. There will be nothing left to fear.

I don't know how long I had been asleep, passed out in the park, but I awake to see a man standing over me. He seems to be gawking over me; then I realize what's going on when I see him start to undo his belt. He thinks I'm still asleep, so before he can do what I assume he was going to do, I kick him forcefully between the legs. The man screams, reaching in his pocket to grab something in his pocket, but I knee him in the stomach and he falls, passed out, as a switchblade drops from his grasp. Before I can take his phone to call 911, I feel heat coming from behind me.

Turning around to look at the sky, I see a green light speeding downwards from the clouds towards me. I try to run from it, but the green thing follows me… And an emerald ring slides itself onto my finger.

"Jessica Cruz, you have been selected as Green Lantern of Sector 2814," the ring says, pulsing against my finger as my jacket and jeans transform into a black and green suit with the Green Lantern Corps logo on my chest.

"What… I don't understand…" I say aloud, confused. Why would I be selected to be a Green Lantern? Isn't fear a Yellow Lantern thing?

"The Guardians have observed you from Oa for years," the Ring tells me. "Your will is one of the absolute strongest in the world. You believed for years that the heroes of Earth were innocent, your will never broken by others. You stayed steadfast by what you believed in."

"But I've lived in fear for years," I say to the Ring.

"But you overcame it today, with the arrival of Supergirl," it replies. "The man you had just knocked out shows that you have overcome your fear of the outside world."

"Okay, but why now?" I ask, still confused by the timing of the ring's arrival.

"Because, Lantern Cruz, the Guardians predict that a conflict will soon arise here on Earth. For ten years, Space Sector 2814 has gone without a Green Lantern following my departure from Hal Jordan because this sector has managed to avoid conflict, but with the return of metahumans on the horizon, the Guardians have decided you must help as a Green Lantern," the Ring explains to me.

"Well, I'm not saying that I don't want to be a Green Lantern, I'm just shocked. What now?" I ask the Ring.

"Now," the Ring says, "we go to claim your power battery on Oa." And with that, with no warning, the Ring lifts me upwards and I am shot into space with a green aura around me.

* * *

This was definitely an enjoyable chapter to write because it gives a normal person's opinion on the Metahuman Purge. Next chapter will see Jessica meet the Guardians of the Universe. Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

I don't know why I say what's in the next chapter each time I update because I always end up changing my mind! Anyways, this is another chapter on the Suicide Squad, Jessica Cruz will appear again at some point in the story.

* * *

 **Deadshot POV**

My stomach boils with anger as I lean against a corner of the cage I share with my fellow former members of the Suicide Squad. Most of them stand around the cell, silent as I am, with the exception of Harley and Boomerang, who are whispering silently to one another, no doubt plotting how to break free of A.R.G.U.S. It's not that I blame them for wanting to be free; the problem is that we stand no chance. After seeing what happened to Bronze Tiger, I am just reminded that Waller isn't messing around; it's exactly like old times. She's gonna play us like a violin and we're gonna be puppets on her strings.

Harley walks over to me and I feel the familiar lurch in my stomach that I used to get when she was around me. I guess casually having sex with a member of your team would do that to you. Up until I had met Harley, I hadn't been with any woman (besides my ex-wife) because I was too preoccupied with getting money for myself and my daughter. Harley and I met when Waller forced us into Task Force X. We hated what they were making us do and the chemistry was there. Before either of us knew it, we were constantly sleeping together until Harley learned that Poison Ivy and Joker's deaths were ordered by Waller. I saw how insane and broken she was and I decided to give her space.

"I'm gonna kill Waller," she whispers, pretending like she didn't remember what we did together.

"How do you suppose we do that?" I whisper back to her. "She'll blow us all to hell."

She sticks her tongue out at me and huffs. "It's an expression." As bitter as she is, I have to hand it to her, she's doing an amazing job of hiding it. "I can't believe she made us come back to do this. We've killed enough innocent people as it is. A long time ago, I would have enjoyed this, but I can't do it now. Not anymore."

"That's the trick," Slade interjects. "Living with the blood on your hands. Pulling the trigger is easy, but when you think about it, all the regret will turn itself on you. Living is much harder than killing. That's why I think of the prize instead."

"I have to side with Quinn and Boomerang," Black Spider says. "I want to see her dead, but we can't be brash about it."

"Floyd could kill her easily; all it would take would be a good ole shot between the eyes," Boomerang says.

"We can't risk that," Rose says. "As much as I want her dead, she undoubtedly has more detonators than just hers and Flag's. And I don't know how stupid you all would have to be to realize that this cell is probably tapped."

"Correct on both terms, Ms. Wilson." Waller has returned, like a ghost.

"You need to learn to knock lady," Harley quips, her voice tinged with anger.

"And don't you know that talking about others behind their backs is rude, Quinn?" Waller says, a snide grin on her face. "As entertained as I was listening to you criminals plot against me, your target has gone public." Waller holds out a tablet with a recording on it for us to see. A blonde girl is standing in a newsroom holding Penguin and Two-Face like ragdolls, with an emblem similar to Superman's on her chest. She calls herself Supergirl and asks for any metahumans in hiding to come to help her fight. She can't be much younger than Zoe.

"Waller are you kidding me?" I ask her, outraged. "You want us, a group of highly trained killers, to hunt a girl who's probably only sixteen or so years old?"

"No I don't want you to hunt her. I expect you to," she says remorselessly.

"Kill me now then Waller," I tell her, "because this is only a girl. She isn't doing anything wrong, yet you ask us to kill her. I know why Luthor wants her dead, but this is going too far."

"I know you're suicidal Floyd. You have been, even when you and Quinn were screwing each other," Waller says. I see Harley clench and unclench her fists in anger. "You lived for the sake of your daughter, and now she is the thing that will make you do this."

"Oi… Waller? Why the hell would his daughter want him to kill anybody?" Boomerang asks.

"Because she dies if Supergirl lives," Waller says.

"Zoe? What did you do to her?!" I yell, grabbing the bars of the cell before getting shocked back. My fellow members move closer to me, surprised by Waller's action.

"I have her kept somewhere you'll never find her. She's free once you kill Supergirl, and if you die… Well, so does she," Waller says.

"You really don't give a rat's ass do you?" KGBeast says.

"I'm willing to trade one girl's life for another," Waller says.

"An eye for an eye," Black Spider says. "You don't know when things have been taken too far, do you?"

"All I know is that I have an objective that I intend to fulfill," she answers. "Luthor wants her dead, and so do I. You're the ones we pardoned, don't make me send you back. We're asking for one easy kill. With all the synthetic Kryptonite weapons, this shouldn't even be a problem."

"It would be easy to do physically, but deep down, none of us are going to be able to live with killing a teenage girl," Rose says.

"Green Arrow and all his friends would be after us if we kill the Kryptonian," Cupid says.

"You're all killers. Aim the gun, pull the trigger. That's it," Waller says. "Luthor doesn't want the heat on actual military so you're going to be the ones to do it, and don't think I won't kill you all if you continue to refuse."

"We'll do it Waller," Slade says, "but this is it. Nothing else. I don't kill children, but I'll make the exception. Once Supergirl is dead, you remove the bombs from our heads and we never come back to this again."

"Fair enough," Waller says. "Do we have an agreement?"

We nod our heads in reluctance, and Waller lets us out of our cage. "We're going to get you all your weapons, and then we'll leave you in Gotham with Flag. After that it's up to you. Two weeks deadline, and don't even think of going rogue."

As we march to the armory where Waller has our new Kryptonite weapons, Harley walks close to me and whispers, "We're gonna kill her once she takes the bombs out right?"

"Definitely."

* * *

So the Suicide Squad is going to be a bigger part of this story than I originally thought; please review and tell me if this would be more suited as just being categorized under Justice League or if it should be under a Justice League/Suicide Squad crossover. There is definitely going to be a lot of conflict between Waller and the team, and there will be a fight between the Squad and Kara soon, with more metas to come.


	8. Chapter 8

**Batman POV**

All around me are my allies; the Opposition, vigilante elite. We are the only ones left of what Lex Luthor called the "Superhero Craze." Luthor will soon regret not killing us when he had the chance.

Around the meeting room in what I call Batcave II are Nightwing, Green Arrow, Arsenal, Red Hood, Oracle, Huntress, Mr. Terrific, Guardian, and Wild Dog. Kara and Damian are watching over Eobard as we discuss what to do about Kara's revelation of herself  
/on live television.

"What are we going to do now?" Arsenal asks.

"We can't just let her roam the world when Luthor is out there," Nightwing says. "He undoubtedly has a stockpile of Kryptonite to combat her."

"I say that she needs more experience in the field," Green Arrow says.

"We can't forget the reason she did this," I say. "The reason she exposed herself to the world was to be a symbol to everybody."

"Bruce is right," Mr. Terrific says. "As vigilantes hiding behind masks, we can't be any more than masked men fighting crime blindly."

"You're right Terry," Guardian says to Mr. Terrific. "Supergirl can be a figure that can stand up to crime without a mask."

"How can we be sure history won't repeat itself?" Red Hood says.

"He brings up a good point," Huntress says. "How do we know she won't go rogue?"

"Bruce has been her mentor ever since she came to Earth. If anyone can be a moral compass to her, it's Bruce," Dick says.

"I say we take turns shadowing her. We don't do anything, just help her or call in support if something goes wrong," Arrow says.

"I didn't sign up with y'all just so that I could babysit," Wild Dog says, crossing his arms. "I agreed to join up to stand up to Lex Luthor under the leadership of Batman."

"And this is the best way to stand up to Luthor," I say. "Oliver brings up a good idea. Supergirl needs to get her name out there, and she'll need us to help her."

"She can handle herself can't she?" Huntress says. "I'm on Wild Dog's side on this one, I'm a fighter, not a damn babysitter."

"You two are welcome to leave then. Supergirl is now the priority of every member of the Opposition, and if anyone here refuses to defend her, then you don't have to be here at all. Anyone who wants to be cycled into a schedule to shadow Supergirl, stay  
/here and notify me, and anyone who doesn't… Well you can let yourself out," I say.

"And what about the metahumans who will show up to stand behind her?" Jason asks.

"Well, then we had better hope we can save them before Luthor has them dead."

 **Damian Wayne POV**

"What are they saying?" I ask Kara as we lean against Eobard Thawne's cell.

"Ugh, can you stop talking, I can't use my super hearing efficiently if you won't stay quiet," she replies, rolling her eyes. I guess some gestures are universal. I couldn't blame her for being bitter though. It was pretty aggravating that father sent  
/the only two teens to watch the crazy time traveler while everyone else was discussing what the next course of action should be.

Kara suddenly groans and covers her ears. "Oh Rao that hurts my head," she says. "I can't listen in, there's some sort of screeching sound in my head."

"Probably father's doing. A dog whistle perhaps," I say.

"A what?" she asks.

"Never mind," I answer, forgetting she isn't familiar with Earth terms. "Don't take it personally; there'sjustification for all the things fatherdoes. Well most of the time there is."

"But this is about me, they're talking about me. Why can't he trust me?" she asks.

"He more than likely wants to keep you from getting hurt by what they discuss," I tell her. "Things aren't exactly looking up for metahumans as a whole. Earth doesn't have any heroes left except for Lex Luthor, who everybody blindly follows. He might  
/want to have you hunted and killed. In retrospect, I'm probably telling you things that father wouldn't want me to be saying to you."

"I guess I can see the logic. He doesn't want me to be afraid of being in the open, but I knew that there was a risk when I revealed myself to the world. They know I'm out there, so why don't I show it? Why shouldn't I be allowed to be out there stopping  
/crime like Kal did?"

"Because we can't afford to let you die." Father stands at the doorway, arms folded, a cross look on his face, the same look he would give me if he disapproved of something. "Luthor still has Kryptonite, he could have you shot in the head by a sniper  
/with Kryptonite bullets and it would be over."

"I can't just stay in here, Bruce," she says, exasperated. "I have to be the person they rally behind, I can't continue Kal's legacy unless you can trust me to go out there and do what he once did."

"I'm going to let you out to fight crime here," father says, unexpectedly.

"What?!" Kara and I say at the same time. Why the sudden change of heart? I'm sure father has something up his sleeve.

"You can fight crime here in Gotham, that means no leaving the city, and you tell me whenever you go. Understood?" he asks. Now I get what he wants to do. I know him all too well to know what he's going to do.

"Can I go now?" Kara asks. After a nod from father, she zooms away, and I approach him.

"You're going to tail her, aren't you?" I ask, but I am met with a shake of the head.

"Not my turn today. Green Arrow's going to," father says.

"Don't you think she deserves a bit more trust?" I ask.

"She deserves the freedom to be what Superman once was," he says. "Who I don't trust is Luthor. Besides, what she doesn't know won't hurt her at all." And with that, he turns around and walks away. The conversation is over. With him, it always is.

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

_Please note that I have changed the story rating from T to M for language and scenes in future chapters._

 **Deathstroke POV**

They are fools, all of them. Task Force X never ended, and it never will, so long as the metahuman threat looms, and so long as Lex Luthor remains in office. Regardless, they made a mistake by bringing me back; I'm not an idiot like the lesser warriors they associate me with, as I sure as hell won't show my bitterness, at least not yet. Not until my blade has torn through Amanda Waller's flesh and it is drenched to the hilt with her blood.

They should have regretted bringing me into this Suicide Squad when they had us kill my son, Joseph, alias Jericho, during a riot at Iron Heights. I didn't pull the trigger, but it was painful all the less. Anyone could say what they wanted about me, but they would be damned to accuse me of not caring for my family, and though Rose had never met her half-brother, she still was affected too.

My other son, Grant, tried to kill Luthor to avenge Joseph's death, but he got captured and later killed alongside Tim Drake, supposedly one of Batman's allies. They went on some mindless crusade, foes suddenly turned allies in a brash act to blindly avenge the ones they had lost under the Metahuman Purge, but to no avail.

I won't make the same error Grant made because he was, sadly, an imbecile who never thought things through. My vengeance will come when it can, but for now, I am with Task Force X, biding my time as we travel to Gotham to face the Kryptonian. Looking around me, I see that the death of the Kryptonian might just have to rest in my hands. The whole of this team, including my own daughter, are consumed with their spite, but I won't let my own feelings get in the way of what has to be done. They want her dead; one of us has to save all our necks. I'll do what the puppet master wants, then I'll cut off my strings.

"Don't y'all come and greet me at once," Flag says, the cocky bastard.

"I wanna kill Waller already as it is," KGBeast says. "Don't tell me I have to kill you too, asshole." The pissed look he gives to Rick Flag is the same expression everyone else in the convoy vehicle has on their face. He was the only one out of us all who truly benefited from Task Force X back in the day. We got out of prison, sure, but with bombs still in our heads, while Flag became the President's top military advisor.

"I'm just trying to lighten y'all up a bit. Don't you think this is a bit nostalgic?" he says.

"Okay, it's my job to lighten the mood, and I can't even be happy right now, so please just shut your yapper!" Harley says, excessively expressive as usual. "I'm having a bad day!"

"I'd do what she says. She can get pretty pissed," Deadshot says, the lust-struck fool. Pity a marksman of his skill ever bothered with a woman like her.

"Suddenly you're all the ones with souls. Waller told me you wanted to spare the girl, that you wouldn't kill her. You all think that Waller and I are duped by your sudden development of guilt, but you're all full of shit. You're killers, yet now you don't want to be?" Flag asks.

Floyd stands up and bares his fists, ready to fight Flag, who pulls out his smartphone. "Gotta death wish Lawton?" Putting his fists down, Floyd takes a seat again.

"Don't you see what she's doing? Waller is trying to manipulate us into killing ourselves Floyd. Calm down, it's over after this," I tell him, which he nods to reluctantly.

"You might want to listen to him," Flag says.

"We don't want to speak to you right now, for once Harley isn't being a pain in my arse with the jabbering. Can we please just be quiet for now?" Boomerang says, quite uncharacteristically might I add.

"Yeah Flag, ya ain't gotta come at us like that. And whaddaya mean I jabber?" Harley says.

"Ugh here we go," Boomerang says with a slight roll of his eyes. Can't say I could disagree with his annoyance.

"All of you shut up or I'll slice your tongues off." Good girl Rose.

"As much as I'd rather sit in silence as we did before, we still have to know what we're going to do," Black Spider says.

"Agreed. If we're going to do this, we can't afford any mistakes," I say, glad to see that somebody has their mind in the right place. We all turn to Flag, but he shrugs.

"It's up to you how you guys do this," Flag says. "All I'm here for is to make sure you stay in line. President Luthor said to subtly take her out, and that their isn't a body left behind. Imagine the media coverage if Supergirl's murder is uncovered. They would look to the White House for answers because the Kryptonite is a material that practically only the government has access to; the President wants this operation as far under the table as possible."

"Won't her disappearance be suspicious anyway?" Cupid asks.

"Of course," I explain, "but without any evidence that her disappearance was executed by us, only conspiracy theories can be released. To fully accuse the President without concrete proof would be stupid."

"You see the importance of staying as covert as possible with this mission?" Flag asks, and we all nod affirmatively. "Alrighty then, looks like we've reached Gotham. Let's kill the girl and go home already."

* * *

With this chapter, I struggled a bit, but I decided that Deathstroke, as a member of my "Suicide Squad Trinity," should narrate. Harley, Deadshot, and Deathstroke will be the primary protagonists of the Suicide Squad segments, with all the other team members bearing similar, though less distinguished, character arcs to them. Also, in order to clear up any confusion, Slade has two sons with his wife and a daughter with an assassin, this daughter being Rose, in this storyline. I'm not sure if this is how it is in the comics, so this is what I'm gonna do for my story. Also, I added a small edit that indicates that Heatwave isn't a member of Task Force X. I'm not sure if anybody remembers I mentioned him, though, as he only had one line in Harley's chapter.

Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Supergirl POV**

It's been two weeks since I've been fighting crime, and yet no metahumans have decided to take my side and fight lex Luthor. They probably think that I'm a fool for asking them to join me, and I can't blame them. I didn't live through the horrors they  
lived through, but I had hoped at least one person would have taken a chance and answered my call to action.

Regardless of whether or not my plea for a resurgence of metas has been heard or not, I feel a certain happiness when I fight crime and help others. I understand while Kal enjoyed it so much; it's empowering, and seeing people smile and thank me for my  
help is something I couldn't get tired of in a thousand years. There were definitely some people who were rather expressive of how they didn't trust me, but I just shrugged it off.

What really doesn't make sense is that Bruce let me go through with being a crimefighter so easily. He said that as long as I took the day and he took the night, we would be fine. When he persisted in telling me that he trusted me, I decided to let it  
go and let a good thing be. There was no point questioning Bruce's trust in me.

Today is a somewhat gloomy day in Gotham, as it usually is, and I have already done so much, having saved a few people stuck in a burning tenement building, stopped three robberies, and prevented roughly a dozen attempted muggings. I think I even made  
one guy wet his pants. I'm feeling particularly good about myself while I fly through the sky, listening for cries for help in the streets below.

As I hear a woman scream in an alleyway below me in the Park Row district, I drop down and slightly crack the gravel on impact, but I see Bruce standing there, already on it; the mugger is already unconscious. I'd never seen him in action, so I was in  
awe at how quickly he eliminated the threat, but then something else came to mind. Bruce's time to patrol Gotham was at night, so why was he here during the daytime? The answer came to me almost instantaneously.

"Batman, why were you following me?" I ask him, crossing my arms over my chest as the would-be victim of the mugging runs away from the two of us. How could I have been stupid enough to think that he really would have let me roam free? I should have known  
him well enough to know that he would do something to keep tabs on me at all times.

"The Opposition and I came to an agreement that you couldn't be left alone outside of Wayne Manor or either of the Batcaves. It's nothing personal, and none of us intended to interfere with what you were doing. The only reason that I took down this mugger  
is because I couldn't tail you for so long without instinctively stopping at least one crime," Bruce explains, and I get it, but it doesn't do anything for the feeling of betrayal I feel in the pit of my stomach.

"Bruce I know that you and your friends had good intentions, but why did you feel the need to lie to me and deceive me? You could have at least told me that you wanted somebody to accompany me," I say, but he shakes his head.

"And you would've said for us not to follow you, just like any teenager. You would seek independence from any assistance offered because you want to do this by yourself, like Kal did, but you aren't him. Not yet," Bruce says.

"That's not your call to make! I'm not some child, some little girl who can't handle herself!" I shout at him. I'm just about to lose my temper completely. "I need some space. Leave me alone Bruce," I say, blasting skywards, not letting him get a word  
in edgewise.

* * *

I have so much steam to blow off as I soar over the rooftops. Even though it's been roughly three or four hours since I had caught Bruce, I'm still angry with him. The sky has gone dark, so he could be prowling right now, but I don't care. I can't stand  
to be at Wayne Manor or Batcave II right now with all this negativity in me.

A desperate cry breaks me out of my reverie; I am surprised that my super hearing picks up a man's voice calling out, "Supergirl!" in an unfamiliar accent to what I'm used to; perhaps a visitor to Gotham from another nation. I fly to his location and  
crash through the window of a vacant warehouse in an abandoned area of the Narrows. The man calling to me is chained to a chair on the building's second level. I approach him and yank the chains that restrain him.

"Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't let you go," the man says. He turns around and my eyes meet the eyes of a particularly hairy man with a blue beanie and musty gray coat. "This is nothing personal, aight?" he says, as the rest of the windows in the warehouse  
shatter open.

I am surrounded by a group of men and women in garish costumes. There is a man in a black and red combat suit, a woman with pale skin wearing a blue and red corset with matching leather pants, and another woman with a quiver slung over her back and a  
bow in her hand. There is also a pair of green sword-wielding orange and black masked figures, one a man and the other a young woman, as well as black clad man in what looks to be special ops armor, and a man wearing a red leather jacket and a white  
ski mask with what looks to be a red cybernetic optic over one of the eye holes.

"What's this? Some type of ambush?" I ask them. "Sorry to tell you guys this, but bullets have no effect on me."

"This one does," the red eyed man says, raising his arm to fire from his wrist gun. I raise my own arm to catch the bullet, and I do, but it stings. As I drop the steaming green bullet, I open my palm to discover that I'm bleeding.

* * *

Dun. Dun. Duuunnnnn. Cliffhanger! This is where the story really picks up, so you can expect a lot from the next chapter! Please review if y'all enjoy the story! Also, I wasn't sure how to expose Batman's idea to tail Supergirl, so I hope that what he  
did to get caught by her in this chapter is a reasonable action that Batman would do.


	11. Chapter 11

**Jessica Cruz POV**

It's been a bit over two weeks since I was taken to Oa, yet the guardians seem to think that I'm ready to go back home and announce myself as the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Despite their belief that I am ready, I know I'm not. I might know how to charge my ring, recite a mantra, and imagine constructs with my head if I strain myself for half an hour, but I'm not ready for actual combat.

"I don't think I can go out there without being killed," I say to my trainer, Kilowog, as we head towards the Hall of Guardians.

"Jessica you can't doubt yourself. Hal doubted his own power against Lex Luthor's, and that's how he lost the ring. To prove your willpower to the Guardians is a great feat. You told me how you admired the heroes of your planet, and now the ring lets you be one of those heroes. Don't let self doubt ruin this; the ring was a reward for your dedication, after all," Kilowog says, patting my back. "I'll be going now, Guardians want to speak to you alone."

As Kilowog blasts off, probably to train another new Green Lantern, I enter the grand hall and face the Guardians once again. They float in the same circle that they were in when I first met them, in meditation just as before. As I stand before them, one of the Guardians, who Kilowog has told me is named Scar, pears down at me as I approach.

"Very good to see you, Lantern Cruz," Scar says.

"I'm honored to be among you," I reply.

"A shame, then, that you must depart home," she says with a monotone that tells me otherwise.

"Earth requires your presence," another Guardian, Dennap, says. "We foresee a major occurrence in Gotham that must be prevented at all costs."

"What's going to happen?" I ask him, curious to know what kind of problems I would have to deal with as a Green Lantern.

"Kara Zor-El, the girl that inspired you, the reason you possess this ring, is going to be ambushed in roughly half an hour," Scar says emotionlessly. "This will be your first test as a Lantern, to see if you can handle it."

"Why would you send me to save her when I only have two weeks of experience?" I ask her. "Isn't there someone better qualified?"

"No, Lantern Cruz, you are the Lantern of Sector 2814, thus this responsibility falls on your shoulders," yet another Guardian, Basilus, says. "No one wants to be the first meta to stand behind Supergirl, so you have to be the one to do so."

"But I barely know my powers!" I tell them, but I am met with nonchalance from the Guardians.

"You have to be willing to believe that you can do this," Dennap says. "Use your head and your heart in the heat of battle, and you'll surprise yourself. Now go, before it's too late."

As I walk out of the hall, I blast upwards towards the stars and let the ring guide me back home.

* * *

The ring drops me down outside an abandoned warehouse in a rather grungy, shady looking abandoned industrial zone. The windows are shattered, and I hear a gunshot ring out. I feel adrenaline pump through my veins as I float uncertainly towards one of the shattered windows. I peer into the room, and I see her. Supergirl. She's staring at her hand, and at first, I don't understand, but I quickly realize that her palm is bleeding and that there is a green bullet lying on the ground. Kryptonite.

The semi-circle of men and women in front of her are instantly recognizable; Task Force X, the government team that had been given clearance to annihilate all metahumans on sight. With only Supergirl's protection in mind, I fly into the room and stand in front of her. "I'm a Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and I can't let you lay a finger on this girl." That sounded more badass in my head.

Slade Wilson and his daughter charge me with their swords, and I focus my best as the ring constructs a shield that blocks their blades. "Good," the Ring says. "Now focus harder and make something to cover you and Supergirl completely." I concentrate on an image of a dome, and the ring constructs a green bubble over Supergirl and I.

The Suicide Squad tries to shoot through the shield, but nothing happens as the bullets sizzle against the green exterior of the bubble. "You better be aware that if you keep this shield up, you'll have to charge me," the Ring says.

"You need to be charged?" Great timing.

"The sarcasm isn't appreciated, remember that I have a mental link to you," the Ring says. "Each time they hit the shield, the more energy is exerted. At this rate, considering that I haven't been charged for a while, I'll be drained within 5 minutes."

"Not that I'm ungrateful," Supergirl says, wincing from her wounded hand, "but who are you talking to?"

"My ring. You can hear it speaking right?" I ask, but she shakes her head. Huh. "This shield will collapse within five minutes if they continue to damage it. Do you know anyone who can help us?"

"I don't know any metahumans; you're the first one I've met. However, I'm working with Batman," she tells me. "I can call him, but I'm not sure if he can make it in five minutes."

"Just try it," I say. "We have to hope that he can make it, or else we're both dead."

* * *

I'm not a huge fan of Green Lantern, so I had to do some research to find the names of some Guardians so that I could have more than one of them conversing with Jessica. Also I don't know much about how Green Lanterns are oriented and trained, so I omitted that from the story. Please give me some feedback and tell me what you think of the story so far, it's only just beginning!


	12. Chapter 12

**Batman POV**

I can't say I wasn't surprised that Kara was upset by my actions. Damian had said that she would be angry and feel betrayed if she caught me or any of the Opposition following her, but I was willing to take the risk. The way she discovered me was a stupid, careless mistake. I wasn't used to standing idly by and letting someone fix problems, so I, by instinct, jumped in and stopped the mugger.

Now, here I am, taking my turn to watch Eobard, on the off chance that he would wake up from his speed force coma. It would be best to leave Kara to fight crime by herself seeing how angry she is; the last thing I need right now would be an enraged Kryptonian to deal with.

Turning my attention away from Supergirl, I look at Eobard once again. He looks the exact same as the last time I saw him, with white lightning pulsing and surging throughout his body, small parts of his suit blurring and unblurring from the speed force overload. Thawne's case was a curious one; Barry and his nephew Wally never had a problem like this with their speed, so I can only assume that the only reason for this is that they had never pushed themselves as hard as Eobard when they first got powers. Even so, surely Thawne's speed coma would have gone by now, considering that it has now been nearly two months since he had first shown up in present time.

I have no doubt that he will be a worthy ally to the Opposition when, or if, I should say, he wakes up. Not only could he be part of the metahuman resurgence, but his story of Darkseid and Trigon could lure many closeted metahumans out into the public eye. I'm running out of ideas; if no one rallies behind Supergirl, Thawne making a public announcement will be my best bet in encouraging metahuman sympathizers.

My thoughts are broken by a beeping on my gauntlet, indicating an incoming call. Accepting it, an image of Kara is projected. There seems to be a familiar luminescent green glow behind her, and I can hear the unmistakable sound of gunfire. "What's happening? Where are you Kara?" I ask her.

"I'm in the Narrows, some team of assassins lured me here. They shot some weird bullets that made my hand bleed. Luckily I was saved by a metahuman. A woman with a green powered ring? Sound familiar to you?" she asks me. Kryptonite bullets? And a new Green Lantern?

"Yeah Batman, we need your help. I guess that I'm the Green Lantern now huh? Well the Suicide Squad is attacking us, and my ring says that this bubble I constructed to shield Supergirl and I will collapse within five minutes. Scratch that, it says three and a half minutes and counting," a woman's voice says off the screen.

"Hurry Batman!" Supergirl shouts as the call disconnects.

"Ugh! I won't make it!" I shout, about to sprint out the door, but I stop when I hear a voice behind me.

"I can make it," I hear. As I turn around, I am blinded by a rush of wind and lightning. When my vision is restored, I glance at Eobard's cell. The glass is shattered and he is nowhere to be seen.

 **Supergirl POV**

I don't know how much longer I can go without passing out from the stinging sensation in my hand. The blood is dripping more and more as I clench my fist and apply pressure to the wound. Regardless, I'm beginning to feel lightheaded as I begin to lose hope that Bruce will be able to save me.

"Don't pass out," the Green Lantern says. "You have to stay awake. You can't succumb to the pain, as easy as it may be. You can do this."

"I don't know… He might not be able to get anyone here on time," I say, as much as it hurts me to admit it. Is this how I die? In a ratty old warehouse?

Out of nowhere, I hear a crackling sound and see a bright white and red streak rush past the protective shell that Green Lantern had made. The streak crosses the semicircle of assassins as they are all swept off of their feet. It all happens in seconds as the assassins fall one after the other, dropping their weapons.

The streak stops in front of us and my heart almost stops. It's Eobard Thawne, his crimson red suit glowing in the moonlight as silver lighting pulses out of his eyes and the lightning bolt on his chest.

"Anybody ask for a rescue?" he says, waving his sparking hand, his sandy blonde hair windswept from running.

"We have to leave," the Green Lantern says. "We can't be seen here with unconscious military agents."

I open my mouth to say something, but no words come as I black out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Jessica Cruz POV**

The speedster, upon seeing Supergirl falling, darts to her aid, catching the Kryptonian before she hits the ground. "I can take her to Batman to heal," he says, taking the girl in his arms. "Follow me." The speedster zooms quickly away, my ring guiding me to where he is going. I close my eyes and let myself be moved by the ring, as looking at the red blur below me makes me nauseous.

He comes to a halt at a manhole cover in a place subtly named "Crime Alley" as indicated by graffiti on a nearby building. "Take her," the speedster says, holding Supergirl out to me. "I need to get us into the base Batman and his allies are in." I hold the Kryptonian in my arms while I float down the manhole, and I am met with a glistening circular vault door. The speedster is already attending to the keypad to open the door, his hands zooming over the numbers at amazing speed, putting in code after code after code. The door suddenly slides open, and I walk in alongside the restless speedster.

The group assembled in the vast room gaze in awe at our odd trio, but I doubt that they are as shocked as I am as I look around at them. Nightwing, Green Arrow, Red Hood, Robin—they are all heroes, and I'm one of them. "Supergirl needs help," I tell them, holding up the unconscious Kryptonian.

"I've got her," I hear behind me. I turn around and lock eyes with the Dark Knight himself. He takes Supergirl from my hold, gesturing for the speedster and I to follow him. "I want explanations, both of you."

"Well, Batman, as you undoubtedly can recall, I passed out shortly after my arrival to your time. The speed force was ripping me in and out of itself, trying to consume me, and I was trying to get out, but my efforts weren't strong enough. I heard that Supergirl was in danger and I knew that I had to do my best to save her. If I could save her, then I could change the future, because my time has records of Supergirl's death dating to today," the man explains, his words spat rapidly.

"Okay, woah, hold on there? Your time?" I ask.

"His name is Eobard Thawne," Batman says, taking Supergirl to a bed and laying her down on it. "Speedster, 25th century. He came here because a war is coming, a war that sees our planet ravaged, and he came here to tell us, so we can be ready, but I already know this. I'm more interested in knowing who you are and how you knew Kara was in danger," he says, gesturing to Supergirl.

"My name is Jessica Cruz, I was made a part of the Green Lantern Corps a couple weeks ago. I was inspired by what Kara said on television, because the Justice League and the superheroes that Lex Luthor killed were my idols. I never gave up on metahumans because I thought it was wrong to persecute them the way many did when President Luthor outlawed them. I've lived in my apartment without leaving it for ten years because I was afraid of a world without superheroes, but Supergirl's arrival changed everything. For the first time in a decade, I wasn't afraid and for some reason the Guardians of the Universe chose me to have Hal Jordan's ring," I say to Batman. "They sent me to Gotham to save her."

"The Guardians don't make brash decisions, from what Hal has told me," Batman says. "They didn't just choose you 'for some reason,' but if they did select you as the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814, I can take their word for it."

"Besides, Green Lantern," Thawne says, "you did save Supergirl. That's gotta count for something."

"The title of Green Lantern is a distinguished title in the universe, Jessica," Batman says. "You don't have to doubt yourself. After today, you have shown both Eobard and I that you are capable of. Eobard, is there any documentation of a Green Lantern surfacing around this time?"

"Well, many historians debated it, but it was theorized that a Green Lantern was present during the death of Supergirl. The fact that both Jessica and Kara are alive is proof the future hasn't been cemented. If we can get more metahumans on our side, then we have a chance to divert Darkseid and Trigon," Eobard says.

"What does Darkseid have to do with this? And who is Trigon?" I ask, confused as ever.

"The alien warlord that tried to claim Earth years ago and the master of hell, who the Teen Titans managed to defeat a couple years after the attempted Apokolips invasion," Batman explains. "They end up killing hundreds of millions of people in a war that is soon to come. Eobard comes from this future, where Earth is a wasteland. This is the threat that Kara was talking about when she revealed herself to the world."

"How come you don't tell this to Luthor? Give him a reason to get rid of the Metahuman threat?" I ask, but Batman shakes his head.

"He won't believe us, and if we make this public, we risk public unrest," Batman explains. "It's best that we keep this to ourselves until we can organize a new Justice League to keep them away."

"A new Justice League?" Eobard asks. "Count me in!"

"I'm willing to explore being a hero," I tell Batman, "but I'm going to need guidance. My whole life I've idolized superheroes and I've wanted to redeem them after what happened with the purge. I never thought that I would ever have powers, but now that I do, and considering what Eobard has told us, I want to help with this ring."

"As long as you're with me Green Lantern," the Dark Knight says. He reaches for his cowl and pushes it back. "My name is Bruce Wayne. It's good to have you on our side," he says, shaking my hand.


	14. Chapter 14

**Deadshot POV**

There is a dull throbbing in my body as I wake up in the musty warehouse. I was shooting at a Green Lantern shielding a Kryptonian, and the last thing I remembered was getting struck by a red streak; I never thought I'd be dealing with such a complicated situation as this anymore. As I stand up, I notice that my fellow Suicide Squad are as sore as I am as they are also recovering.

"Blimey, I thought that I was done with the bloody speedsters!" Boomerang rasps as he brushes off his jacket.

"Don't forget the female Green Lantern," I add. "You have to be fucking kidding me. I got my ass handed to me!" As if a teenage girl who could kill someone in a single punch wasn't enough of a problem to deal with.

"What do we do now? We have, not one, but three metahumans to deal with," Black Spider says, seething.

"They will undoubtedly make us go after the speedster and the Green Lantern," Slade says. "I would say that the best idea would be to comply."

"Comply? Are you kidding me Slade? This is stupid!" Harley exclaims. "This isn't fun, like it was back in the day."

"You seem to think that we have a choice," he snaps at her, his tone stressed. "We don't. They want us to kill them, we do it, or we get killed instead. It's not supposed to be 'fun' as you put it. Being subservient to government dogs usually isn't."

"Task Force X, get your asses outside," Flag barks into radio. We all haul ourselves down to the bottom story and get into the APC with Flag.

As the vehicle moves away from the abandoned warehouse, Flag decides to begin his questioning. "What in the hell happened back there? GCPD got numerous calls describing power surges and green flashes coming from this area of the Narrows. How come you couldn't kill the damn girl and get it done with?"

"Because she was helped by a Green Lantern and a speedster," I tell him.

"The girl would've been dead if it hadn't been for those damned metas who saved them," Boomerang says, crossing his arms.

"Well she isn't," Flag says, but none of us are about to hear it from him.

"You can't pin this shit on us! It's not our fault!" Cupid says.

"We couldn't expect that something like this would happen," Rose says, but Flag shakes his head and raises his hands defensively.

"Look, I get it, but I'm not the one who should be the most worried with this development. I'm here to make sure you get the job done, but the one who makes the big orders on this task force is obviously Amanda Waller. She gets to decide your fates. I've been putting off her calls since the weird activity was first reported, so she's probably out for blood at this point," Flag says, reaching for his pocket. "And here she is again. You sure the story you told me is the truth?" Seeing our nods of confirmation, he answers his cell.

"Hello… No, target is still at lar— Target had help from two other metahumans… A Green Lantern and a speedster… Task Force X was temporarily incapacitated, all members currently en route to Belle Reve… I understand. I'll be sure to tell them." As Flag hangs up the call, he looks at us with somewhat false pity.

"She's pissed, but she still wants you to carry out the objective, along with the other two metas," Flag says.

"Hey, tuts!" Harley shouts, "You said the Supergirl dies and we're done! Just the girl, and no one else!"

"You said that we wouldn't have to continue after this Flag, what kind of bs is this?" KGBeast says with a snarl.

"The mission was altered. Pray that isn't altered any further. That's all I have to say. Next person to speak gets their bomb detonated," Flag says.

Upon arrival of the APC at Belle Reve, the squad and I file in line, assuming the normal procedural positioning common for security measures as we are patted down, just like when we were prisoners. Nobody seems happy about it, but we keep our mouths shut; it wasn't anything new to any of us.

We are then sent to change into the old Belle Reve prisoner jumpsuits, the harrowed and coarse fabric a familiar feeling to us all. Just like before we were pardoned, guards escort us to our cells with our hands cuffed behind our backs as we march down the all too recognizable cell blocks.

"We were pardoned, you can't make us prisoners again," Cupid protests, but all the guards ignore her protests. We are shoved roughly into our cells, two people per cell.

"We know that we excused you from imprisonment a while ago, but I have to say that y'all should've known that Waller and Luthor would turn things against you. The kind of life y'all had follows you. Sorry to say it," Flag says nonchalantly as he walks away, leaving in his wake our unmatched bitterness.

"Asshole," my cellmate says. I turn around to make sure my hearing didn't falter, and sure enough, it didn't. Harley, of all people, as my cellmate. As if this couldn't get any worse than it already is. We take a good half a minute or so staring each other down somewhat awkwardly until she breaks the gaze.

"I hate staring contests, I'm going to sleep," Quinn says, hoisting herself up and flipping onto the top bunk of the bed flamboyantly.

"So that's it, huh?" I ask her, lying in the bottom bunk, hands under my head. "We're just going to pretend that what happened between us wasn't ever a thing? I mean, it wasn't the worst part of all this was it?"

"No, but what we had together was a part of this whole Suicide Squad thing nonetheless, and I would prefer that everything that happened during our days in Task Force X be left in the past," she says with finality.

"You shouldn't bottle up your feelings," I tell her. She huffs and tilts over the edge of her bed, hanging her head upside down to look at me, her eyes narrowed, her lips pouty as she glares at me with a slight annoyance.

"And you should stop trying to get in my pants. Let's keep this professional and kill the girl already. I just want to go home, you want to have your precious daughter, screw the whole system, blah blah blah. Nightie night Lawton," she says, flipping her head back up to lie down again. Why the hell is she so stubborn?

"You don't have to be a royal bitch just because you can't get over the pain. One day you're just going to lose it completely," I tell her, but I am met with exaggerated snoring. "God have mercy on whoever crosses your path when that moment comes."

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think!


	15. Chapter 15

**Supergirl POV**

"Ughhhhhhh…" I groan as I open my eyes, my vision focusing as I awake. My hand is just a bit sore, but other than that and my slight fatigue, there doesn't seem to be any problems.

"I thought you were done with being in comas," Damian says as I sit up in the bed and turn towards him.

"How long have you been sitting there? How long have I been out?" I ask him.

"Roughly two or three hours," he says. "Nothing too bad, considering that your hand has healed completely from the bullet wound. Father says that Superman had a similar reaction from his first encounter with Kryptonite."

"Kryptonite?" I ask him, confused.

"They're radioactive minerals, fragments of Krypton that fell to Earth. Father has his own supply, but it doesn't compare to how much raw Kryptonite that Luthor has managed to seize from assets all over the world," Damian explains. "Humans aren't susceptible to Kryptonite, but Kryptonians like you and Superman are heavily weakened by it."

"Who was the woman who saved me? Where is she? And Eobard?" I ask him, looking at my palm, which as healed significantly save for a faded bruise.

"She's a Green Lantern, a warrior who is chosen to protect others with the power of their will. She was inspired by you, and that's how the ring chose her. She's believed in the good of metahumans since Superman came into the public eye, and she can't be the only metahuman or the only one who doesn't side with Luthor. She is hopefully the first of many who join us," Damian says. "She's charging her ring downstairs; Thawne went with father to retrieve the Kryptonite left behind at the warehouse."

"Luthor sent those assassins didn't he? No doubt the government supplied them with the Kryptonite weaponry," I say.

"The one and only Suicide Squad," Damian says. I figured; Bruce had told me about them and how they killed majority of the metahumans on the planet back when Luthor won the presidency. If it hadn't been for Jessica and Eobard, I would have died.

"I can't say that I'm surprised that he sent the Suicide Squad after me; I guess that I should have seen this as an inevitability," I tell Damian. "It doesn't change my feelings about Bruce tailing me. I still believe it shows a lack of trust."

"You just have to try to understand things from father's point of view," Damian says, his crossed arms and slight frown somewhat contradicting what he's saying. "He does things like this all the time because he doesn't take risks, and I've become accustomed to it. I would suggest that you do too, because all of us who have worked with him know that father will do whatever he sees fit."

"Doesn't it ever bother you? I mean, you're his son. Surely you know about all of untrustworthy things he does for 'the greater good,'" I reason.

"As I said, I'm used to it," he repeats. "I know that those who don't know him well are always bothered when they realize the kinds of things he does, but the best thing to do is to shrug it off, because these are the things he does. Father will feel too cautious, and he will always do what has to be done."

"Don't you ever want him to change the way he is?" I ask Damian, pressing to see if his opinion on this is the same as me, and he nods curtly.

"Sure I do, but what I want is less important than what is necessary. Although I don't support the means by which he ensures things will work out, I can't argue with the results. I always think of what good father can do when he takes advantage of people like he did with you, which I don't think he should have done," Damian says, then changes the topic quickly. "I think you would rather meet Jessica than talk about this. Let's go."

 **Batman POV**

As I approach the abandoned warehouse, my cowl's radioactivity sensor rings. I glance at Eobard. "Wear this," I say to him, handing him the spare gas mask in my utility belt while slipping on my own over my mouth. "My cowl is detecting potentially radioactive elements in the air."

"Kryptonite isn't hazardous to humans," he says, though he puts on the gas mask nonetheless. I shoot my grapple gun at one of the broken windows and haul myself up while Thwane rushes up the wall and phases through it. What we find is a Kryptonian's nightmare; green crystalline bullets litter the ground, glistening darkly under the moonlight. I pick up one of the bullets and analyze it, but the screeching of the radioactivity detector increases as I do so, and I suddenly realize what we are dealing with.

"Synthetic Kryptonite," I say, dropping the bullet hastily.

"What?" Thawne asks.

"Synthetic Kryptonite. I invented it," I tell him. "An extremely radioactive material made up of mainly a Dwarf Star alloy and Uranium mixture. Expensive, but an easier to acquire alternative to actual Kryptonite, and just as effective against Kryptonians. I eventually canned it because the Uranium would leave behind toxicity, and I didn't want to risk anything like that. The whole Justice League knew about the synthetic Kryptonite, meaning Luthor probably found the procedure to make it in Cyborg's memory banks."

"What would be the point of him using synthetic Kryptonite? Why doesn't he just use the vast collection of Kryptonite he already has?" Thawne asks.

"Luthor is a master strategist. He has to have some reason for keeping a hold of the raw Kryptonite and using so much money to synthesize his own. He must have known it was toxic, so that's why he had this ambush staged here, an abandoned section of the city, but he must be using the raw Kryptonite for something if he wasn't willing to supply it to kill Supergirl," I rationalize, and Eobard nods in agreement.

"What are we going to do with these bullets then? It's not like we can just leave them here," he says, but I already know what to do.

"I'll contact Commissioner Gordon, tell him a toxic waste team needs to handle this," I say to him, hopping out the window and into the Batmobile, driving away as Eobard jogs next to me.

* * *

So, I am aware that synthetic Kryptonite has existed in the DC Comics universe at one point or another, but for the sake of the story I have made my own version of it. This synthetic Kryptonite will become increasingly important as the story progresses. Next chapter will be a big one!


	16. Chapter 16

**Lex Luthor POV**

Waller's report of both a Green Lantern and a speedster coming to a Kryptonian's defense has proven quite a development. Never would I have dared to believe that any man or woman would be so folly as to stand behind Supergirl. The rift between metahuman supporters and those against them has been blatantly one sided; after the Metropolis incident, the world finally looked at the situation through my eyes, saw that these superhuman, self-proclaimed "heroes" could be the downfall of all us normal people.

One couldn't deny that their power, when utilized for good, could be beneficial, but I always knew that such power could be turned against us if such a person were to be presented with a maddening or painful experience. For this very reason, I pushed the Cadmus Project, especially after Superman's fall from grace; people who could counter a metahuman threat without crossing any lines. Heroes who could lose their powers and be human.

As I am escorted from my private jet to the laboratory compound, I am met by Project Cadmus' director, my own mother, Lillian. "Hello mother, it's good to see you again," I say, embracing her warmly.

"What's wrong son?" she says. "You make it seem like this project is life or death. I assure you, the team is almost ready."

"It would appear so," I tell her. "Two new metahumans have recently come to light. I have to have all of them taken down, and Task Force X still refuses to fully comply to Waller. The test subjects have to be ready for unveiling within the next two weeks. I have come here to check up on them."

"Two more metahumans won't matter soon. Lex, please let me show you where your money has gone," my mother says, leading me to an elevator to take me to the top secret area. "I think you will be proud of our advances here."

As my mother and I leave the elevator, I peer down the brightly lit hallway. There are five closed doors with advanced lock systems on them, and my mother unlocks the closest door by scanning her identification card. There is a sterile white room with a stainless steel table in the center.

Mother introduces me to a man adorned in a red and blue exosuit of what looks to some sort of durable metal, a helmet over his head with a clear visor. "This is Ray Palmer, codename Atom," she explains.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. President," Mr. Palmer says, shaking my hand enthusiastically. "I have designed a suit that allows to me to compress the molecules that make up my body, thus allowing me—" he says, tapping at a screen on his gauntlet, "—to shrink down to a miniature level, to any varying degree." Before my very eyes, the man shrinks down to the size of an action figure; he waves to me animatedly.

"Remarkable, Mr. Palmer," I manage to say as I gaze at the miniature man below me.

"Ray has been, for years, been perfecting this nanotechnology, and I believe it was time and money well spent with the development of his suit. Atom can prove to be an excellent agent of espionage and scouting for potentially dangerous environments," mother explains.

"What metal is the armor made of? And how do you power such technology?" I ask him.

"It's made of Kryptonian metal salvaged from Superman's Fortress of Solitude, powered by some sort of unnamed alien power source," he explains, somewhat. "It wasn't easy to forge and I couldn't find an alloy as similar to it here on Earth."

"Brilliant work Mr. Palmer. A man of science, just as I was when I was running LuthorCorp, before my presidential days. I approve," I say, clapping him on the back as I proceed to the next room.

In the second room, a girl who looks roughly to be in her early twenties leans against a wall, a dormant generator in front of her, about the size of a cooler. "This is Jesse Chambers, codename Jesse Quick," mother says. "Her and her father, Jonathan Chambers, created an injection called Velocity that, when combined with energies from this speed force battery, could temporarily grant a person the powers of a speedster."

Mother guides me to a smaller room at the back, with a thick glass window to observe from. As we put on our goggles to prevent being blinded, Jesse activates the speed force battery. The generator crackles as she closes her eyes, allowing the lightning to soak into her skin. The lightning begins to pulse all over her body, and girl suddenly flits back and forth throughout the room, merely a streak zooming restlessly from wall to wall. She abruptly halts in front of the window of the observation room; she hasn't even broken a sweat.

"Amazing! She might as well be the Flash from how fast she was running," I say. Walking out of the safe room, I approach the speedster woman, cautious of the lightning sparking from her skin. "I'm very impressed, Ms. Chambers. This Velocity formula must have been quite the challenge to make," I tell her, but she seems somewhat indifferent.

"My father was the one who really deserves the credit; please excuse me if I seem rude, Mr. president, but my father recently died of heart failure. I've agreed to continue with Cadmus because I want to continue my dad's legacy," she says.

"I understand, Ms. Chambers, my condolences," I say, and she nods somberly.

"Now would be a good time to meet our next asset, or should I say next two assets," Mother says, guiding me out of the second room and opening the third one. I see a man who appears to be in his mid-fifties standing next to a boy who must be in his late teens to early twenties, with a strange looking triple-strapped harness over a black jumpsuit.

"Hello, Mr. President, my name is Martin, Martin Stein," the man in his fifties says.

"And I'm Ronnie Raymond," the teenager says.

"I was experimenting with nuclear fission for Cadmus with some associates when a mistake was made, resulting in a nuclear burst so powerful that it automatically killed all of my acquaintances. By coincidence, Ronnie, who was supplying us with necessary tools, came in the room right before the explosion. The nuclear blast somehow merged us into one man, able to interpret each other's thoughts," Stein says.

"Let's demonstrate," Ronnie says, holding his hand out. Stein clasps Ronnie's hand, and a slight breeze is felt as Stein appears to dissolve in midair. Ronnie opens his eyes, which have turned all white hot, his hair flaming, his hands ablaze.

"Originally, we planned to name Raymond and Stein's odd merge the Nuclear Man, but Ronnie had a better name," my mother says.

"Firestorm," the burning man says before splitting into two different men again. "We both agreed to be a part of your team Mr. Luthor. Martin and I support your cause and we think this would be the best way to express our faith in your plans."

"I appreciate your support, Mr. Stein and Mr. Raymond, but I would like to know, how much do you know about your powers?" I ask, genuinely curious as to what extent this type of power could reach.

"We don't yet know how much power we possess when merged," Stein says. "However, we are testing it out day by day. So far, we know we are capable of flight, pyrokinesis, nuclear invulnerability, and a few others."

"Fascinating work, keep me updated on your power development," I say to them.

"Let's meet the next member of our team," my mother says, leading me to the fourth door, in which I see a hulking robot, it's tech very similar to that of Cyborg, aka Victor Stone, whom I had executed by removing his metal frame.

"Meet Metallo," my mother says, smiling as she approaches a console hooked up to the powered down android. "Constructed of a mixture of LuthorCorp technology and advanced programming salvaged from Cyborg's frame. Metallo is an exact copy of Victor Stone, without the human parts. Metallo will be ready for combat once all of Cyborg's memory files are uploaded into his hard drive."

"So he will be exactly the same as Cyborg was?" I ask.

"Yep," she nods. "He will have full access to Cyborg's wide range of data. We call it the Grid. Only difference is that he will be powered by raw Kryptonite to deter any other Kryptonians. However, I just so happened to save the best for last," mother says, guiding me to the final room in the hallway. When the door opens, I am met with a young boy wearing a plain black shirt and jeans. His messy black hair and seemingly innocent baby blue eyes remind me of his predecessor.

"You… Your team was able to create him... " I stammer. For one of the first times in my life, I am speechless.

"Hello Mr. Luthor," the boy says, waving at me.

"I was already researching genetic cloning years before you were elected Lex. The only thing I needed was Superman's DNA to replicate him from birth. We call him Superboy, but your sister thought he needed a human guise. Connor, why don't you show him what we've been working on?" mother says to the young boy.

"Alright, but you promised me burgers and fries!" he says.

"You can have whatever you want, Conner, please show my son what we've been up to outside for the past year," my mother presses.

"Oooookay," the boy groans. He walks to the back of the room, approaching what looks to be a very heavy block of metal.

"It's a ton of steel," my mother whispers to me. Conner floats off the ground, towards the block of steel, and smashes it with his fists, arms pulling back and forth in a blur, breaking away the chunks of metal, until their are only small bits left. He then blows a cold gust of air from his mouth, freezing the bits together.

With his feet touching the ground again, he stares expectantly at my mother once more. "Now can you pleeeease get me a burger, I'm starving," he says.

I am left speechless, but my mother just congratulates Connor and promises to get him his fast food as we walk out into the hallway. "Amazing. I am genuinely pleased with how this is working out. My Justice League of America will be a game changer," I say to her.

"I know," she says. "I'm glad to be a part of this. Ray, Jesse, Ronnie, Martin, Conner, and so many Cadmus employees have put in so much work into this, and I can't wait to reveal the JLA to the world."

"And you are certain that we have a way to contain them should they go rogue?" I ask her.

"Yes. We have the Atom suit's fuel source, the speed force battery in this compound is the only generator able to power Jesse Quick, we designed the Firestorm Matrix device to combust on a push of a remote, we can take Metallo offline whenever we want, and Superboy… Well he was injected with a Kryptonite nanite…"

"Amazing… I don't know how to thank you mother," I say to her.

"Just get them out there in the public eye, they've been itching to be the heroes we told them they could be," my mother says.

"I have an idea for what they can do…" I tell her.

"What?" she asks.

"They're going to kill Supergirl and her two meta friends," I tell her.

"But what about Task Force X?" she asks.

"They are called the Suicide Squad for a reason. Every great conflict has its share of martyrs. It'll all make sense in time."

* * *

That was reaaaaaaally long ahaha. To clarify, Lex has organized this team of metas that he can control to be lackeys to the government. The whole thing about the Suicide Squad at the end will be explained eventually. Please review and tell me what you think about where this story is going!


	17. Chapter 17

**Jessica Cruz POV**

"Ugh, how much longer until you're ready?" I groan. My fist is inside a floating magic lantern with emerald energy surging through my ring. At first it was cool, but now I'm just getting bored, so bored, in fact, that even being in one of Batman's legendary Batcaves is no longer exciting.

"It usually only takes me a minute or so, but I've gone a decade without being charged. I'm sure you can stand being bored for half an hour. I'm just about done," the ring says to me. I try to come up with a clever quip, but I can't. I haven't talked to anyone save for my sister and myself for years. "All done, Lantern Cruz."

I stop levitating as the power battery disappears to who knows where. The ring wipes away my Green Lantern suit and my favorite gray hoodie and ratty jeans materialize over my body. Well that's new.

I don't know what do; sure all of Batman's allies introduced themselves to me, but I didn't know what to say them. It's not like conversation skills was ever one of my stronger suits.

"Hey," I hear behind me. I turn around and recognize Supergirl, who is now wearing a baggy T-shirt and sweats. "I don't wanna bother you or anything, I just wanted to thank you for saving me. My name is Kara," the blonde says, shaking my hand.

"Jessica," I tell her. "And I could say the same thing to you. You gave my life a purpose again. I always looked up to superheroes but I never would've thought I would actually be one. You inspired me to not be afraid, you showed me this world will always have heroes, and I never would've gotten this ring without you."

"I don't really know what to say to that, I have to admit. I've been on this planet for not even two months and now I'm a superhero. My cousin was Superman, so I have some big shoes to fill," she says, with a tone lacking in confidence, a tone I was all too used to having myself.

"I've only been a Green Lantern for two weeks, the same amount of time that you've been Supergirl, but Hal Jordan and Clark Kent were heroes for years. We're both amateurs to this superhero thing, but maybe we can learn how to live up to our legacies together," I tell her. She nods with a shy smile on her face, and I can't help but think a girl like this could never do the things Lex Luthor thinks she would do. Which, of course, reminds me of the Suicide Squad.

"I'm just glad they didn't kill you right away, it isn't like the Suicide Squad to fail a target. I don't think they've botched a single mission to kill a metahuman," I say to Kara.

"I didn't really think about it," Kara says. "Bruce always told me that they were criminals, cold blooded killers, but before you came, it didn't really seem like they wanted to hurt me."

"You think they weren't really trying?" I ask. "If they weren't really enthusiastic about it, why even bother? A.R.G.U.S. pardoned them years ago, it's not like they had to fight you if they didn't want to."

"It's because they have bombs implanted in their heads," I hear behind me. Batman, or Bruce. Wayne, stands behind me with the future speedster Eobard Thawne standing next to him. "Eobard and I made a particularly horrific discovery while investigating the ambush site. Task Force X was using synthetic Kryptonite, not true green, the takeaway being that Lex Luthor is using the raw Kryptonite for something else. The bad part about this synthetic Kryptonite is that it contains Uranium, and prolonged exposure could kill anyone, even non-Kryptonians. Luckily Jessica's shield blocked out the radiation and Thawne speed heals."

"Wait a minute… Why would Lex Luthor supply radioactive weaponry to use in Gotham, regardless of if the area is abandoned or not?" I ask.

"I don't know," Batman says, "and I don't like it. We have to figure out who is manufacturing this synthetic Kryptonite and get rid of it as soon as possible. I'm not sure what Luthor's endgame could be, but what I do know is that we can't let this hazardous mineral put anybody at risk."

"How can we possibly be able to do that, though, Bruce?" Supergirl asks him.

"The Suicide Squad ambushed you, Kara, so I say we ambush them. Belle Reve is one of A.R.G.U.S.'s best known facilities. Once the home of the Suicide Squad, and they are undoubtedly there as we speak. We go there and we can figure out where this synthetic Kryptonite is coming from," Batman says. "All the members of the Opposition will help."

"Okay, when do we do this?" I ask him.

"We set out for Belle Reve in a couple of days. If we depart early in the morning, we can get there by evening," Batman says. "I am going to notify the rest of the Opposition that we are going through with this. I'd suggest that you three consider if you want to join us or not, considering that you've never been in the field." With that, the Dark Knight walks off to leave the three of us to discuss what to do.

"I want to help them, and I think we can do good, it's just that it might not be worth it to risk our lives. We don't know what these people are capable of," Kara says.

"I get your logic. I'm not the most experienced right now. It was only luck that saved the two of us. Well luck and Eobard," I say.

"Speaking of whom, why are you so quiet?" Kara asks. "You haven't said a word this whole time."

We both look at Eobard, waiting for an answer, but he looks horrible. His eyes are wide, his face unnaturally pale. His mouth is slightly parted and his hands are shaking rapidly. "I… I don't feel so good…" he groans, falling to his knees. Suddenly, he screams in agony as bursts of lightning spark from all over his body, parts of which begin to blur and unblur. The wind from the lightning blows forcefully against Kara and I.

"Shit, what's happening?" I ask her.

"I don't know!" she says, just as clueless as I am. "He was in a coma like this when first saw him, maybe it's coming back for him!"

"What's going on?" Batman says, entering the room with the Green Arrow and Robin behind him. "Oh my God," he says, shocked as he sees Eobard's strange fit.

"The Speed Force must be trying to consume him again," Green Arrow says.

"Why would the Speed Force want to take him?" Kara asks.

"Your guess is as good as any," Batman says. "We just have to wait for him to overcome it again."

"Again? Why are you so passive about this?" I ask Batman.

"He was in a coma like this before," Robin, or Damian, says.

"He got his way out last time, I'm sure he can do it again," Batman says. "For now, we have to deal with the synthetic Kryptonite. We can figure out what's happening with Thawne as soon as we raid Belle Reve."


	18. Chapter 18

**Harley Quinn POV**

My head hurts as I wake up. Well actually, it hurts more than it usually does as I wake up. I feel queasy, and I have trouble getting down from my top bunk. Then, I notice that Floyd is sitting up in his bed, his hands on the sides of his head telling me that he's feeling the same as me.

"Your head hurts too?" I ask, answered by a silent nod of the head.

"They must have done something to us," Floyd manages to get out.

"Drugged us maybe?" I ask, but he only shrugs his shoulders.

Floyd sits against the headboard of his bottom bunk as I lean against the wall next to the cell door. I try to figure on what's going on with our bodies (not in that way, ya perverts), but my head is spinning, and it takes a lot of strain to think of anything. Eventually, I just give up and do my best to suppress the headache and nausea.

After what feels like an eternity of agony, the cell is opened by an A.R.G.U.S. agent. "Director Waller would like to see all members of Task Force X," the agent says to the two of us, leading us to see Waller to undoubtedly discuss the problem with the three metahumans at large.

Assembled in the conference room, I take a look at my fellow Squad and I realize that I'm not the only one who feels ill. Everyone seems to move sluggishly, besides Slade, ever the super soldier, and there is a silent understanding amongst our team that something must have happened to us, and it's no question who's responsible.

As Waller walks into the conference room, we all glare at her with equal ferocity, but she pretends not to notice our anger directed at her. "We have a desperate matter to discuss," she says, taking a seat at the head of the table. "I'm having A.R.G.U.S.' best men and women try to track the three metas, so we want you training and preparing your combat skills so that the Green Lantern and speedster are killed with haste."

"We'll listen when you tell us what the hell you did to us," Cupid says, clutching her stomach.

"What?" Waller says, acting as if she doesn't know what we are talking about. "I have yet to do anything to any of you."

"This moron was vomiting into the toilet for half an hour," Slade says gesturing to Boomerang.

"Same with her," Ravager says, nodding to Cupid.

"Anatoli and I have been nauseous since we woke up," Black Spider says.

"Same here," Floyd says. "Harley and I have been ill all morning."

"Look, is this some sort of joke? If it is, I can have you all killed for insubordination," Waller says, still refusing to admit she had done anything to us.

"C'mon Waller, we know you did something to us," I tell her. "We're all friends here! Just spit it out!" A poor choice of words, I realize, as I feel a burning begin to come up my throat.

"I don't know what you all are talking about. Stop this bull ri—" Waller starts, but she's interrupted as I hurl onto the table. I had tried my best to hold it in, but the sick feeling in my gut had a different idea.

"Well, isn't that a peachy ray of sunshine?" I say, coughing. "Anybody got a mint, that tasted like crap."

"Believe us now?" Boomerang says, gagging a bit. "Just watching that makes me want to puke a bit more."

"Okay, so you might be sick, but I had nothing to do with this," Waller says.

"Bullshit," KGBeast says. "Why else would we be sick?"

"I genuinely don't know," she says. "It's not my problem anyways; suck it up. We have much more important things to deal with than stomach aches. It's probably from the rations, but I'm sure you'll all get over it." Although it's obvious that there is something more to this than poorly digested food, we know better than to irritate Waller with things that she doesn't give a damn about. "We have three targets to take down before it's too late. No excuses, not anymore. When you get the chance, don't hesitate. You're dismissed."

* * *

Back in the cell with Floyd, I have already thrown up again, as well as him. Like civilized human beings, we take turns heaving into the crappy toilet. "I feel us bonding already," I say to him sarcastically, only to be answered with a quick snort.

"Now you wanna talk to me?" he says, moving away from the toilet. "Ya know, I figured you were bipolar or something like that, and this confirms it."

"I'm sorry," I say to him. "In retrospect, I was being a real bitch last night."

"Ya think," he says sarcastically.

"And I'm not bipolar," I tell him. "I have more than two layers."

"Layers… Heh, you're really something huh Quinn," he says with a half grin. It feels good to make people laugh again, especially him. I guess I never really realized how much I missed having people in my life, and Floyd was really one of the few people left for me to care about, after Ivy and Mistah J were killed.

"Once these bombs are out of our necks we're going after Waller, yah?" I ask.

"Hell yes," he says. "She brought Zoe into this, and I'm going to make her pay. My little girl is the only good thing in my life and now she's in danger, all because of me." He's not doing this for me; he's doing it for his daughter. Honestly, how much of a surprise is that?

"I'm going to help you," I tell him.

"How? You're batshit crazy," he says, but I'm not offended at all because he's pretty much right.

"I just miss you. Being alone is so damn boring now," I tell him. I try not to sound like a kicked puppy, but I don't think it worked. Regardless, his face softens a bit, and I can't help but notice a glimmer, a spark of something. "I wouldn't imagine apologizing to someone as they empty their bowels into a toilet," I say to lighten the mood, and he gives a small smirk in response.

"We find my daughter and we pump Waller full of lead, after that we can figure out what this is," he says.

"Sounds good to me," I say. "Now could ya move, I have another ray of sunshine to spray into the toilet."

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter! I would like some input on the second half of this chapter; do you think it was written well enough? I'm not the best at writing emotional scenes, so please tell me if you think it was too cheesy or OOC and I'll edit accordingly.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I just want to apologize for the time it took me to update; recently, I was on a retreat with my church and I've had a bit of an identity crisis (*cough* comics reference *cough*), but I will be updating more frequently for _this story_. As for my other two stories, if y'all read those, they will be continued as soon as my writer's block for those two go away, especially for _After Arkham Knight_ , which a lot of ideas for this story come from. Thanks for your patience!

* * *

 **Damian Wayne POV**

Stuck in the cave. Again. And this time, father has me watching after two grown, super powered women as if they're children. With nothing to do, I sit with Oracle in the control room as I sharpen my knives. Kara sits next to me while Jessica practices making constructs in the training room downstairs.

"I'm bored," Kara says with a huff; she had been staring at one of Barbara's security monitor for the longest time, lost in thought.

"I've been bored for years. Father hasn't trusted me for the longest time; I doubt he'll ever let me out of here," I tell her. "Ever since you came he wants to restrain me here."

"It's because you're his secret weapon, Damian," Barbara says. "You're his successor, and he doesn't want you tangled up in this whole thing until it's your time. Luthor will continue to persecute metas, and Bruce will continue to age. Batman has to live on. The infiltration of Belle Reve that he's planning right now might not succeed, and you have to be here to take his mantle if anything goes awry."

"So I've been told, but how can I be ready to become the Batman in the future if he won't let me out of there? He can't mollycoddle me," I protest.

"I see a father who wants to protect his son," Kara says, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"She's right Damian," Barbara says. "Bruce lost so many people… his parents are dead, your mother abandoned him, Selina's in prison. You're the only person he has left. You have to understand that you aren't just his partner… you're his son. He can't lose you, especially when he's risking war with Luthor. There's a reason you don't have records; Luthor had no idea who you are and that gives you an advantage."

"I can't spend all my time cooped up in this cave!" I say to her.

"Why don't you just let us go outside for a couple of hours or something?" Kara suggests to Barbara. "Both of us want to get out of here for a while. We can just go and get fresh air. We don't have to do anything risky."

"I don't know… Bruce will kill me if he finds out," she says.

"We don't have to tell him. Damian and I won't be gone for long," Kara says.

"Well, your cousin did use only need to use a pair of glasses to hide his identity," Barbara says, stroking her chin. "Aha! You can use a pair of mine. I have a spare set in my bag."

Kara reaches for Barbara's purse and pulls out a pair of gray glasses. She slips them on and smiles shyly. "How do I look?" she asks.

"Just like any other human," Barbara says. "Just… Don't do anything risky, okay?"

"We know," Kara says, zipping away and coming back wearing a faded pair of jeans and a red and blue patterned flannel. "I'll make sure Damian doesn't antagonize anybody!"

 **Supergirl POV**

"I should probably thank you for getting me out of that cave," Damian says as we wait for Alfred to pick us up a couple blocks away from the Batcave II. "I don't care what we do, I just don't want to be in there any longer."

"This is first time I've actually been outside of the cave or Wayne Manor without being Supergirl," I say. "Honestly, I have no idea what to do up here when all I've been so focused on saving people."

"Just follow my lead," Damian says. "I'll just take you to the place that Grayson, Drake, and I used to go to when we were bored." As if on cue, Alfred pulls up at the curb Damian and I are waiting at.

"Where shall I take you two this fine evening?" he asks, turning to Damian and I as we get into the back seat of the car.

"Big Belly Burger," Damian says. "Like old times."

"Very good sir," Alfred says.

"What's a 'burger?'" I ask Damian, who smirks.

"You'll like it, trust me," he says. For about ten minutes or so, I watch the cars pass by, not sure what to say, as neither Alfred nor Damian says a word.

Alfred pulls up to what looks like a restaurant with red and white checkered stripe at the bottom of each window. "Tell me when you would like for me to take you both back, Miss Kara and Master Damian," he says as we get out of the car.

The first thing I notice as I walk in is the mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen. I feel my stomach rumble, and suddenly, I'm hungry. "I'll order us some food, get us a table," Damian says, getting in the back of the somewhat long line. I opt for a booth in a empty far corner of the restaurant and wait a few minutes until Damian gets to the front of the line, orders food, and walks up to the booth I'm seated at.

"I hope you're hungry," he says. "I got two large Belly Buster combos with chocolate milkshakes. You'll love it."

"So… What's a burger, exactly?" I ask him again.

"It's a sandwich, kinda," he says.

"Like the ones that Alfred makes?" I ask.

"Well, yeah, but burgers are a thousand times better," Damian says. "Father prefers that Alfred make healthy food all the time, but Grayson, Todd, Drake, and I always liked burgers and stuff like more than the stuff Alfred makes."

"Guest #539, your food is ready!" I hear a woman in a red shirt shout from the counter. Damian walks over to the counter and takes the tray to our table. As soon as he sits down, Damian grabs one of the burgers and bites a huge piece out of it.

"Don't be shy," he says, gesturing to the other sandwich. I take the burger and take a hesitant bite from the greasy looking food, and the taste fills my mouth. It's like a combination of various ingredients, and it's so amazingly satisfying.

"Your eyes glazed over a bit there," Damian says with a grin.

"It's so _good_ ," I tell him.

"Would I lie to you? Try a fry," he says, sliding a carton of thin golden strips to me. I take a fry and pop it into my mouth. Then, Damian wordlessly slides a glass with a rich looking brown substance in it, his smile even wider. I take a sip of what I assume is the 'chocolate milkshake' he had brought up earlier, and my mouth is in euphoria.

"Don't tell me you didn't have good food on Krypton," Damian says as I plow through the burger and fries.

"Nothing like _this_ ," I say, swallowing a mouthful of my burger. We talk about Kryptonian cuisine, and I eventually begin to talk more and more about my homeworld. He nods and comments, attentively listening to me. Eventually I tell him about my parents Zor-El and In-Ze, how much they loved me, and how Kal was like as a child. I don't realized I've started to cry until Damian takes one of my hands and squeezes it.

"I'm not going to act like I understand what you're feeling, but everything is okay Kara," he says. I nod halfheartedly as the memory of my lost family remains ingrained in my mind.

"Thank you Damian. You have to be my best friend right now, and I really appreciate everything you do for me," I tell him.

"Anytime," he nods. All of a sudden, Damian's cell rings. "Hello? — What do you mean they aren't — Shit! We're on our way," he shouts sliding the phone into his pocket. "Kara you need to bring us back, quickly!" he says, running out the door towards the alley nearby.

"What's wrong?" I ask him, my despair replaced by panic.

"The Suicide Squad isn't at Belle Reve; Father spoke with Waller there. They've broken into the Batcave II."

* * *

This is more of a filler chapter to further development the relationship between Kara and Damian. I'm undecided as to whether I should have them eventually be a couple or have them be close friends, so please feel free to tell me what you think of this. Also, please review and tell me if you think that I should include more of these non-action filler chapters like this in the future of this story.


	20. Chapter 20

**Amanda Waller POV**

"You know Mr. Wayne, I didn't think you would be this foolish," I say. "This is timing at its finest." Batman and his lackeys, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. Three very talented men, yet they sneak around in ventilation shafts like rats. Well, bats are winged rats. I knew they were coming; I knew from the screams over the communications relay mixed with the snapping of arms and heads hitting concrete. The sounds of arrows whooshing let me know they have backup if need be. They stand before me, having jumped from the ceiling in an attempt to scare me—they didn't. I've seen much worse than men who play dress-up.

"What do you mean?" Nightwing asks, never the best at playing it cool.

"I mean that the ones you seek aren't here," I tell them. "The Suicide Squad has a mission, so who am I to restrain them here? They can be home with the bang of a single green bullet. They're in Gotham, over a thousand miles from here."

"Why kill Supergirl?" Batman asks. "Aren't we fighting the same battle? Aren't we both trying to be Earth's defenders?"

"Yes Mr. Wayne, we are, but I agree with Mr. Luthor. If we want to protect our planet, we humans must have the power to control those who can do so much more than us. We will preserve order," I tell him.

"We don't subjugate those who we can't understand, nor should we kill them for only what they can do," Wayne says, ever the self-righteous man.

"Murphy's Law. Anything that can go wrong, will. It's out of my hands; the order comes from a higher power than mine," I tell them.

"Why help Luthor? Why obey him? Doesn't it hurt you to know that he commands you?" Todd asks me. Smart cookie.

"I will admit, it does hurt me to have that son of a bitch tell me what to do, but every dog has his day. Luckily I'm smarter than the dogs," I say to him.

"Why the synthetic Kryptonite then? Why risk lives?" Batman says.

"Lives? Is there another Kryptonian I should know about?" I ask him, genuinely intrigued.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about," he says. "It's radioactive."

"If it was, why would Luthor give it to me?" I ask him. "He wouldn't harm normal people."

"I don't know why, but what I need to know now is where your stash of synthetic Kryptonite is. It's too harmful to have," Wayne says. I know a bluff when I see one, and I know he is telling me what he believes is the truth.

"How do you know you know about the toxicity of this material?" I ask him.

"I invented it," Wayne says. "It's made of a mixture of Dwarf Star alloy and Uranium."

"How can you expect us to believe that you didn't know about the synthetic Kryptonite toxicity?" Nightwing asks.

"I don't kill innocents, and I swear on all that is good that I never knew of this. Luthor was providing it to me from some third party called Cadmus. That's all I know about the synthetic Kryptonite," I tell them. "It explains why they were sick."

"Who?" Wayne asks.

"The Suicide Squad. They must have picked up radiation in their gunfight with Supergirl a few days ago," I tell him.

"Call them off then," Nightwing says.

"More exposure will kill them all," Batman adds.

"No," I say tersely. "Luthor gave me an order, and if Supergirl isn't killed, my position and reputation are down the drain. If those scumbags die with the girl, well then that's too bad. I'm not going to say anything about this. You're free to go, as well as Oliver Queen and Roy Harper, who I know are keeping watch outside this building."

"Why let us go Waller?" Todd asks me.

"Really the answer is simple. There's nothing you can do. Everything is in motion now, and I want to see you fools try and save her. Good luck with that, considering Gotham is a couple hours from here," I say, walking out of the conference room with satisfaction.

* * *

Next chapter is going to be a big one!


	21. Chapter 21

**Supergirl POV**

I drop down so quickly into Crime Alley that Damian almost falls out of my arms. He rasps a bit as I set him down, sprinting to a nearby dumpster, from under which he pulls out a katana and a domino mask, the latter of which he puts on his face before slipping down the hood of his black hoodie.

"I have these here for emergency," he says. "Good thing too."

I rip off my flannel and jeans, as well as Barbara's glasses, wearing my suit underneath my street clothes as Bruce said Kal did. Damian and I hurry down the sewer to find the entrance to the Batcave II burned away. The whole Suicide Squad is waiting, their weapons aimed forward. In the back, the man they call Deadshot holds a pistol to Barbara's head, the redhead knocked unconscious. Jessica is nowhere in sight.

"Well, well, Supergirl. We were wondering where you were," the mercenary says. "And the Boy Wonder himself, always a pleasure to battle one of you bat boys."

"I assume we don't have to tell you why we're here," the man called Deathstroke says. "Tell us where the Green Lantern and the speedster are, and we don't kill Miss Gordon." I feel my eyes heat up, my fists clenching tightly.

"We can kill you now if you want to fight," Ravager says, her dual pistols pointed at me.

"I wouldn't let her do it, she's a meanie. It won't be quick," Harley Quinn says, sticking out her tongue.

"Let her go," I hear myself growl. "Those bullets will kill us all."

"What? You mean these?" Quinn says, firing a couple shots, which I manage to dodge.

"You don't understand, they're not stable," Damian says.

"They're radioactive," I explain.

"I don't know about you guys, but it seems like they want to trick us," Captain Boomerang says. "Let's how them that we don't believe them."

A wave of bullets come at me, and I dodge left and right, a few of the synthetic Kryptonite projectiles barely missing me. They keep firing magazine after magazine, and I continue to dodge the bullets, arrows, and boomerangs that they send my way. "Get out of here," I tell Damian, knowing that the synthetic Kryptonite radiation will kill him. You'll die if you you remain here."

As I continue to dodge the bullets, I feel a boiling in my stomach; this ends now. My eyes heat up again, and I feel my heat vision kick in as blasts hit a few of my assailants. They keep shooting, and I fire more shots of heat whilst dodging their attacks. I dash and slam them from the side, sending Black Spider and Cupid into a wall. I zoom through them, slamming my fists into them blindly.

 **Harley Quinn POV**

I flip around and try to avoid the unhinged Kryptonian girl while also trying to get her with a good shot. She has hit Black Spider, KGBeast, Rose, and Cupid so forcefully that I fear they are dead. Slade and I fire at her desperately while Digger hurls his boomerangs, but it will only be a matter of time until Supergirl kills us, too. It seems the fear she had in our last encounter has disappeared.

"Hey!" I hear come from the far end of the room. Floyd has taken Oracle away from the rampaging girl, holding the pistol to Barbara's head. "I'll kill her. Stop, or I will pull the trigger." For a few seconds, everyone is completely still. Supergirl's eyes no longer burn with heat vision, and it seems the rage that she had is gone, but then, out of nowhere, she zooms toward Floyd and smashes him through the steel wall behind him.

I barely notice the scream that I release as I run to the wall that Supergirl broke through, and I see Floyd crumpled in the next room, an armory. He's barely breathing, the shrapnel from the wall jammed into various spots on his body. "Floyd, answer me," I sob, the hot tears burning against my face.

"Harley… I can't make it…" he groans. "This is much worse than any pain I've felt."

"Don't say that," I tell him, squeezing his hands. "You can beat this."

"I'm dying. It's about damn time hell takes me," he says, coughing blood. "It's too late to save me Harley. Just promise… promise me… you'll take care of Zoe…"

"No, Floyd, you're going to see her again. Don't fucking say that," I tell him. "You can get through this." He begins to close his eyes, and I beg him not to, but words don't come out. "Floyd… Please don't leave me… Please…" I beg him. My fingers on his can sense the life fading away, but I refuse to accept it.

"Goodbye, Harley. I'm sorry we couldn't make this work," he murmurs.

"Open your eyes, please Floyd," I plead. "I love you, please come back." I search for the faintest pulse, looking for any sign of life, but I know he is gone.

" _No. No, no, no, no, nooooo_ ," I cry. I feel a hollow, empty feeling in my chest, almost as if my heart has been ripped completely from me. Then I notice her. The Kryptonian stands away from Floyd's lifeless body, a tear streaking down her face. And I hate her, so much that my stomach burns with hellish rage. All I can think of is all the people I loved and lost just because the world wanted to screw around with me. I let loose a painful shriek, and everything goes red.

 **Supergirl POV**

Harley Quinn screams in pain as she holds Deadshot in her arms, and I truly realize the consequences of what I had done. I had killed several men and women, without remorse, without thinking of anyone but myself.

"FUCK ALL OF THIS! I _HATE_ YOU!" she yells at me, and I know that her rage is warranted. At that very moment, the room is bathed in an ethereal red light as a scarlet ring slips itself onto Harley's finger. The bright red and baby blue jacket and pants that she wears turn to blood red and black. Her blonde, blue and pink tipped hair turns the same dark colors down to the roots. Her eyes are warped into a burning pupiless volcanic orange, and her white crop top turns black, a white logo burning itself onto her chest, a logo that Bruce had shown me among various others: the shield of the Red Lantern Corps. The broken woman stands still throughout the whole transformation, barely acknowledging the ring that has taken permanent residence upon her hand, as she cries bitter crimson tears.

Blood pours from Harley's mouth like a fiery waterfall as she glares at me in hatred. "Ivy, Mistah J, and now Floyd! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!" she screams. " _WHY ME?!_ " She lunges towards me, but an emerald energy burst slams into the Red Lantern's back. Harley turns around and hisses angrily, firing a much more powerful red blast at Jessica, knocking her to the ground. Harley zooms away, the blood pouring from her mouth staining the ground as she flees.

"What happened?" Jessica asks. "I left Eobard to figure out what was going on. What, or who, was that?"

"A monster. And it's all my fault," I tell her.

* * *

This chapter is definitely a chapter I had fun writing, as I've been planning to make Harley a Red Lantern for a while now. She will be a big threat for the coming few chapters, and I'm really looking forward to the insane ways that Harley will use her powers. Please tell me what you think of this development!


	22. Chapter 22

**Batman POV**

As I arrive at the entrance to the Batcave II with Dick, Jason, Oliver, Roy, and Damian, it is evident that I have come too late. Green bullets are strewn across the scorched base of operations, so I put on my gas mask to avoid toxicity, my allies doing the same. As I walk further into the cave, I see bodies of all too familiar enemies, some bleeding, others with burn marks.

"They're… Dead…" Dick says, lightly kicking Black Spider's corpse with his boot.

"What's this?" Jason says, pointing to a few small patches of what looks like blood, except it smells horrid, with smoke lingering over the burning vestiges.

"It's my fault. All of it," I hear behind me. Kara hovers from a smashed in wall at the back of the cave entrance, a body in her hands. "I killed them. All of them." Her eyes and cheeks shine with tears, her nose pink. Jessica floats behind her, using her ring to form a gas mask, as well as a gurney, upon which she places the body. Jessica pulls off the man's red lensed mask. Floyd Lawton and the Suicide Squad. Their name has caught up to them.

"What were you thinking?" I ask, turning to Kara. "I made it very clear, we do not kill."

"I don't know what happened to me… I was thinking of my family… I felt so helpless, and I felt this… this irrefutable rage," she says, clearly upset by what she had done, but it doesn't excuse what she did.

"It doesn't give you a pass to take lives, that's not our call; it's no one's call. You think I haven't wanted to do it? I've gazed into that cruel, corrupted abyss for years, and I never succumbed to the desire to end the lives of these degenerates," I lecture her.

"It's not her fault, Mr. Wayne," Jessica says, placing a hand on Kara's shoulder to comfort her. "It was the Red Lantern ring. It was in the cave this whole time, looking for someone to latch onto. It was probably affecting her, leeching off of her and stoking her anger."

"What Red Lantern ring?" Oliver presses.

"Harley Quinn… she's a… Red Lantern. She had a breakdown after I… after I killed Floyd Lawton," Kara explains, her sobs making her words barely comprehensible.

"Quinn's mental stability has always been unpredictable; after losing Poison Ivy, Joker, and Deadshot, I can see something like this happening," I say. "But I can't just pin this on her. I should've realized you weren't ready. I should've let you recover from your loss instead of trying to make you become your cousin."

"But I do want to be a hero… I wanted to—" she starts.

"Killing isn't being a hero. It doesn't make you any better than them. All it does is put you just as low as them. This war against crime isn't easy, and I can't let you back into the field knowing you cannot control yourself," I tell her.

"Bruce, I think you're being kinda hard on her," Dick say. "Consider what she's feeling."

"As harsh as it may seem, I agree with Bruce," Oliver says. "In my first year as a vigilante, I killed dozens of men in my father's black book. I didn't hesitate to stick an arrow in each of their necks, but now I regret it more than anything. Supergirl cannot go down this dark path, and we have to make necessary precautions to ensure that she remains a beacon of goodness."

"I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not cut out for this. I need to get some fresh air," Kara says, wiping at some tears before blasting away from us and out into the city above.

Damian tries to go after her, but I grab his shoulder. "Give her space."

"What are we going to do now? We've got Harley Quinn on the loose with superpowers," Oliver says.

"We can deal with her later. For now we have to move our base of operations. The Batcave II has been compromised by A.R.G.U.S.," I tell him.

"Where are we going to move?" Roy asks.

"A cave on Arkham Island. I hoped it would never come to this, but we have no choice. This location is no longer safe," I tell them.

"Arkham Island. I was hoping I'd never have to use the Arkham cave, but our alliance has been discovered. We have no other choice but to relocate. I want this cave cleared of any compromising evidence or tech that Luthor or A.R.G.U.S. can get their hands on. If finds these bodies, Supergirl's image is tarnished. I plan to demolish this cave and the corpses within it," I say.

"They aren't all dead," I hear, as a familiar whoosh of wind and silver lightning zips past me. Eobard is awake again, as he drops Deathstroke and Boomerang to the ground, their ankles and wrists bound with Nth metal cuffs I had fashioned.

"Sleeping beauty is awake again?" Jason says, getting a snide chuckle out of Roy.

"At least try to sound grateful that I caught these bozos," Thawne says, crossing his arms in feigned soreness. Something feels off about him…

"Please… You have to help us," Boomerang says. "They'll kill us… Supergirl got away again. I don't know why our heads haven't already been splattered for our failure!"

"This cave is a deadzone, you imbecile. Flag can't get to us, as long as we're here," Deathstroke says. "The signal's blocked."

"What about Flag?" I ask them.

"Do ya really think I'd give a hoot about all this patriotic mumbo jumbo Bats?" Boomerang says. "Bloody hell no! I'm doing it 'cause they stuck some nano-bomb in my bloody head!"

"Don't be so naive, Batman," Slade says. "We were all done with being Luthor's huntsmen for years, do you think we would willingly agree with killing Supergirl? Luthor is afraid of her, and he gave us a choice; us or her. Is it really that difficult to believe that we chose ourselves over the Kryptonian?"

"I see… Well, I'm sorry, I have to do this," I say.

"Do wha—" Boomerang says, but he's cut off as he and his companion breathe in the chloroform from my specialized smoke pellet.

"If Rick Flag was meant to detonate the nano-bombs, he has to be in this vicinity," I say. "Dick, Damian, go search for him, I can—"

"Too late for that," I hear. I barely get a glimpse of a scarlet-clad, masked woman before she zooms out of sight, firing lightning from her arms throughout the room, each bolt connecting with each of my allies within a matter of a couple of seconds, each hit knocking them down. Thawne pushes me out of harm's way.

Oliver and Dick get up, staggered, while Damian, Jessica, and Jason still remain lying numb on the ground. "Who the hell are you?" Jason grunts as he struggles up.

"Call me Jessie. I'm not exactly here for you, if that's what's bothering you. I'm here for them," she says, gesturing to the corpses around the cave, as well as Slade and Harkness.

"We can't let you take them," Dick says.

"Supergirl is more than this," Ollie says.

"Suit yourself," Jessie says, charging at the two of them. Queen fires a trio of arrows, all three of which the speedster catches, while Nightwing manages to flip over her, slamming his batons into the ground, the electricity pulsing in the ground and towards the unphased speedster. Thawne charges at her, but she easily pushes him back.

"Gotta be faster, babe," she says with a smirk, grabbing a sharp piece of shrapnel and jamming it into Eobard's leg; he screams in pain, closing his eyes. Jessie then flits to Oliver once again, and stabs the arrows into his leg.

"I ain't got much time, so I'm going to have to cut this battle short," she says. Jessica and Damian are now standing, a green shotgun in the Green Lantern's hand. "This is less challenging than I thought it would be," the speedster says, as I throw batarangs and Jason fires shots from his pistols.

Jessie grabs onto the scruff of Damian's hoodie, dodging bullets and batarangs, throwing him into Dick and Jason, knocking all three of them out at blinding speed. Jessica shoots the shotgun construct, but Jessie dodges it easily, slamming the Green Lantern brutally into a console behind her, leaving me the only physically fit person left to fight the female speedster.

"Sorry Batman," she says, slamming her lightning-charged fist at me, right before everything goes black.

* * *

For explanation's sake, I just want to clarify that the Velocity/speed force battery combination makes Jessie much faster than Eobard. Plz review!


	23. Chapter 23

So I guess I kinda left something hanging at the end of the lsat chapter; Deathstroke and Boomerang are currently in A.R.G.U.S. custody, for those who were wondering.

* * *

 **Damian Wayne POV**

Even with Slade, Boomerang, and the corpses gone, Father decides our best approach is to relocate to the Batcave on Arkham Island, now an abandoned isle off the coast of Gotham. As the now conscious Oracle wipes all of the data files clean of the Batcave II's mainframe, there is no need for Jason, Dick, Oliver, and Roy to stay behind, seeing as everything besides the data in the computers can be destroyed and replaced easily. Jessica and Thawne have agreed to wait at Wayne Manor for the time being.

I stand by and watch as Oracle and Father search through the data files, hunting for any sensitive information. The lines of code mean nothing to me, and I stifle a yawn and maintain my respectful silence as Father points out some things to Barbara. As I lean against my sword, about to fall asleep standing, I feel a weight on my shoulder.

"I can clearly tell this is of no interest to you Damian," Father says.

"That seems like an oversimplification."

"I have a task for you," he says. "I want you to find Kara. I'm worried for her."

"Why? So you can remind her again that what she did is wrong?" I ask him.

"No," Father says. "You've killed before; you knows what it feels like, and you know how to get rid of that temptation. You can help her, guide her away from a dark path."

"If that's the case, why not have Jason do it? He's killed too, and he has more experience with killing criminals," I reply.

"Jason is still struggling with the no killing rule, but that's not the whole thing. I want you to find her and talk to her, because I can tell that she's closest to you, out of all of us, and I can see clearly that you reciprocate that affection for her. You treat her as a human, like a normal girl, rather than a secret weapon like the rest of us do," Father says.

"Wait, you think I… I have a crush on Kara?" I ask, befuddled that my father of all people would insinuate this.

"It would explain why you took her out on a date before this whole mess happened," he says. "I know what it's like to care for someone, and I feel like you two need each other. She needs someone who doesn't treat her like an all powerful goddess, and you need someone to trust and care for besides yourself. Go to her, and help her. I don't want her out there if Luthor crucifies her image with those bodies. There's a reason that Red Lantern ring almost chose her as its host."

* * *

As I sprint over the rooftops, searching for any sign of where Kara could have possibly gone, I think about what Father said. Is it possible that I really could have feelings for Kara Zor-El? As I try to figure this out, I realize several things that point towards my father's assumption being true.

I guess I had found her attractive, but it just wasn't a feeling that I was used to. The last person I had found even remotely attractive was Barbara, back when I was twelve or so years old, but it was a minor attraction. I didn't really think much of it, and, over time, the appeal was gone, not to mention Grayson had been infatuated with her for years, only having asked her out a couple years ago. What Kara made me feel was different than that weak yearning I had for Barbara as a kid.

Although I never noticed it before, I'd sometimes get chills around Kara; I associated that with knowing that she could knock my head clean off with her fist, but maybe there was more to it than that. Not to mention, when we were having dinner together and I saw her cry, I felt this protectiveness that I had assumed was purely platonic, but maybe there was more to it. A part of me felt for her in that moment of weakness, more than a friend would normally feel. Then again, neither she nor I are normal people, but still… the emotion wasn't like anything I had ever known.

Flipping over the rooftop of the Gotham National Bank, I finally find her, after an hour or so searching. She's on a terrace on Wayne Tower. Her hands cover her face, and I can tell she's been crying this whole time. I feel that familiar, maybe platonic (maybe not) twinge in my stomach as I land next to her.

"Kara…" I say, uncertainly, trying not to frighten her. She moves her hands away from her face, turning to look at me.

"Damian… I swear, I never meant to kill them… I never meant for any of this to get so out of hand, and now there's another Red Lantern loose out there because of me, because I couldn't control myself," she sniffs, her eyes bloodshot. "You must all think I'm a monster."

"You aren't a monster Kara; as a matter of fact you're so much more than you give yourself credit for," I tell her. "You're strong, brave, heroic." Beautiful, I add in my head.

"How are you not absolutely disgusted with me?" she asks.

"Because I've killed before. There are dozens of men's blood on my hands, but I'm better than that now. My mother, Talia al Ghul, raised me to be a master assassin, but I overcame it because I believe in other ways of defeating the enemy. It requires discipline, but it's not all that hard. It wasn't your fault anyway; the ring's presence corrupted you. It wasn't you," I insist.

"Except part of it was. Those were my hands being bloodied, my emotions negatively drawing the ring to me. I know that deep down, there's a part of me that came out because that ring drew it out," she argues, but I know that isn't all of it.

"There are other parts of you than that. You lost so much, it's only natural to feel anger and sorrow and everything in between, and it only makes you stronger when you consider the fact that it hasn't broken you until now."

"Why do you care so much about me Damian? Why are you so kind to me?" she asks, as more tears break through, bringing back that protective feeling in my gut once again.

"Because I… I care about you, and I believe in you," I say.

She moves closer to me, her arms gently resting against my neck, her tears wetting the cape draped over my shoulder. "Thank you," she says, her voice barely a whisper. And so we stand there, the Girl of Steel crying into the shoulder of the Son of the Bat, both in utter silence, save for her soft weeping.

* * *

So this is my first attempt at a romantic scene since my Harley Quinn x Batman one-shot, so I'm curious to see if y'all think this was good. If it was, I want to do a Wonder Woman one-shot based of the movie (which is amazing, go watch it, I've seen it twice!). Anyways, please post any comments you have on this chapter guys!


	24. Chapter 24

**Batman POV**

It's about six o'clock in the morning when Barbara and I finally arrive back at Wayne Manor from the Batcave II, exhausted from pouring over the countless amounts of information stored there. The Batcave II is now completely destroyed, demolished by charges I had set a long time ago, in the event that anyone should discover it. Although we are both tired, Barbara and I know we aren't going to sleep.

As she heads up to the guest room she usually uses at the manor, I head to the cave to put away my suit and change, then to the sitting room to think. I soon realize that I have been beaten there. Kara is lying asleep on the couch, with Damian sitting in an armchair nearby, the news playing faintly on the television.

"You managed to find her," I say.

"That wasn't the hard part," he answers. "She's a complete wreck, blaming herself for this whole mess."

"I've thought about it, and I still believe it would be best for her to take a break from crime fighting," I state, but Damian doesn't agree with me.

"She's a good person, Father, she's just hurting," he says, defending her.

"I never said she wasn't a good person, son," I say, clearing noticing his sudden protectiveness for her. "It's just that her emotions make her dangerous."

"I believe in her, and I don't think any of this was her fault," Damian persists. "Just give her another chance, she deserves that much."

"It's not about deserving, it's about the greater good, and preserving her image, if Luthor doesn't completely tear it down after seeing the corpses," I say.

"But—"

"Damian, please just leave it, I agree with Bruce," Kara says, groggily rubbing her eyes. "I shouldn't be out there; I don't want to be out there. Not when these powers aren't so hard for me to control."

"Kara, these people need you…" Damian says.

"They only think they do," she says. "I haven't done anything that you or Bruce couldn't do. Maybe I'll go back to the suit in time, but for now, I think the world wouldn't miss Supergirl."

"Kara we can't inspire people like you do, or like Clark did. We're vigilantes, but you're a genuine superhero. It's not that you didn't change the world, because you did. It's just that… I think you need some time to think things through," I tell her truthfully. "I agree with Damian, you are a good person, and a great inspiration, you just need to collect your—" i don't finish a thought as the TV draws my attention. Kara and Damian look at me quizzically, turning around to look at the TV screen that has distracted me so much, and it is automatically apparent what has caught my eye.

"… unexplained deaths of several members of the Suicide Squad, it is unclear who is being held accountable, but President Luthor will be making a statement within a few hours, says press secretary Mercy Graves…" the reporter on the TV says.

For a few moments, the room is filled in silence. Kara coves her face with her hands while Damian whispers to her, trying to calm her down. The silence is broken by the small sonic boom of a speedster entering the room. "Hey guys, you should turn on the — " Thawne starts, before he sees Kara.

Jessica enters the room with much less show, following Alfred. "This is bad," she says unnecessarily. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing good is going to come out of this," I tell her. "I'm sure Luthor will outst Kara for all of this, so as I said, it would be best for her to stay out of action. In fact, we should consider what the public says before any of you three get out there; besides, you and Eobard have to become more accustomed to your powers."

"So we're supposed to lie on our backs and refuse to engage when two powerful threats are quickly closing in on us? We have to show them that we aren't afraid," Thawne says. "We have to get as many of us as possible, make this planet safe again… I don't want my future to remain a reality."

"He's right," Kara says. "We can't ask them to stay behind because I couldn't help myself."

"What one meta does is reflected on metahumans as a whole, it's too risky sending these two out to fight crime with the announcement Luthor plans to make," I tell her. She looks down shamefully, and I can't pretend I don't understand her.

"I used to be a public menace. Police after me every night, everyone thinking I had some ulterior motive, that I was a madman in a costume, but that didn't last. Give it some time, and I'm sure that it will get better with caution on your part," I say. She merely nods dejectedly.

"What now?" Jessica asks, fingering her ring anxiously.

"What else can we do…. We wait."

* * *

Well, I'm back...sort of. I will be continuing to write this story, but my updates will be infrequent. I might update with a bunch of frequent chapters one month and barely update the next, but I will finish this story as I have plans for what to do with it farther down the line. Thanks for the support for all those who follow, fav, and review!


	25. Chapter 25

**Batman** **POV**

After a couple hours of waiting, the morning program on the TV is interrupted by a breaking news alert. Luthor stands at the podium, a triumphant gleam in his eyes masked by a somber look upon his face. It seems that practically every member of his cabinet is standing behind him, all seeming to carry the same triumphant air that Luthor wears. "Task Force X has lost several members; as of today, former military assets Anatoli Knyazev, Floyd Lawton, Carrie Cutter, and Rose Wilson have been murdered brutally by none other than Supergirl, while the whereabouts of Harleen Quinzel are unknown, as testified by Digger Harkness and Slade Wilson. We had sent Task Force X of their own accord to search for the girl in order to bring her in for questioning, and she killed them in cold blood."

"That's bullshit," Damian says, his fist clenched; I wordlessly hold up a hand to silence him.

"Task Force X was made of heroes who sought to save the world from atrocities against humanity, and now they are dead because of they dared to stand for a world where self-proclaimed gods weren't a threat," Luthor says. "Supergirl, I speak directly to you. We know you have killed those who dared question if you belong among us, if your intention in being here was malicious. Now we know you are our enemy. You've taken the lives of some of this country's greatest heroes; to fix this, we will not rest to find you. A new team is nearly ready to confront you."

A new team...another Task Force X? If Luthor believes this new team is capable of taking on Kara in combat, then they would have to be a very dangerous ensemble. I remember the speedster Jesse, who had taken the corpses of the Suicide Squad, as well as the bound Digger Harkness and Slade Wilson. If he had a team of metahumans who were compliant to the government, we could have a real problem on our hands.

"However, I am aware you are being assisted by a certain vigilante in Gotham. Although I have been reasonably more tolerant with extremely justified vigilantism, the Batman has been helping you, an outlaw, stay sheltered from the government. I am afraid that Gotham's Dark Knight has been pushing boundaries for too long. The confirmation of his aid to you came in the discovery of the defeated Suicide Squad in a...Batcave? I believe that is what it's called. Anyhow, I refuse to allow the Gotham Bat to help you in any other way…"

A realization dawns on me at these words; he still has access to Cyborg's data caches. All that data at his fingertips…

"I have withheld the identity of the Batman because I believed he could do good, but it would seem I was wrong. It is with great reluctance that I have issued an arrest warrant for Bruce Wayne, the Batman, for harboring a murderous outlaw."

"ALL OF YOU LEAVE NOW!" I shout to them.

"We aren't leaving you!" Jessica says. "We have to stay and fight them!"

"I'm not letting you get arrested on my account!" Kara argues.

"I can't afford for you to be captured, whatever Luthor has up his sleeve, he can't take you three," I say, gesturing to her, Eobard, and Jessica. "He's expecting for you to be here, and you three aren't ready to be attacked by whatever or whoever he plans to send after you."

"I'll come back for you Thawne says, reluctantly grabbing Alfred and Jessica before zooming off, followed promptly by Kara, who carries Damian and Barbara away. It is in no less than thirty seconds later that I hear the double doors of Wayne Manor being smashed down, heavy footfalls pounding against the wooden floorboards of the floor below me.

"Bruce Wayne, this is the GCPD!" I hear echoing from a bullhorn. "President Luthor has ordered your immediate arrest for treason and the sheltering of a criminal. We urge you to surrender, and it should be noted that lethal force has been authorized. The Manor is surrounded, come out with your hands up." I'd recognize that voice anywhere; GCPD's newest Commissioner, Ellen Yindel, a woman who'd replaced James Gordon a few years back. She was in total agreement with the Metahuman Act, and was one of the many blinded youths who thought Lex a true hero. She'd been gunning for me ever since joining the force, and now she's in my home.

Trying not to make my location known, I quietly move through the room, reaching under the couch to grab one of my spare utility belts, which I had left in different rooms throughout the house in the event of a home invasion. Going to the cave wasn't even in question, as the only entrance within the manor was downstairs, in a room probably filled with GCPD officers.

The particular belt that I had grabbed carried three smoke pellets, five batarangs, a gas mask, batclaw, and grapnel gun. Not much to work with, and it only made things worse knowing one well-placed bullet could down me, seeing as my bulletproof suit was in the cave and I was wearing sleep clothes. I peer out of the corner of a window and consider jumping out of it, until I see about a dozen men in SWAT gear spread out on the south lawn. Too spread out to beat them all without getting shot. I hear the distant pounding of footsteps up on both my right and left sides; it would only be a matter of time until I'd be surrounded by well-armed SWAT.

Before I can think of what to do, I hear the thumping of helicopter blades behind me; a police chopper has its guns aimed directly at me through the glass. The footsteps of the SWAT surround me, and I have half a dozen officers around me, going NSA trained on me. Yindel is one of them. "Don't make this harder than it has to be Mr. Wayne," she says.

"I don't get put down easily," I tell her, tossing the smoke pellet to the ground. The room is quickly shrouded in gas, everything hidden, but I know the manor like the back of my hand. I find my way to the edge of the loft nearby with ease, somehow managing not to be hit by any of the frenzied bullets from the panicked SWAT. I hop over the ledge, but before I land on the rug below, I see a small blue streak, then what feels like a charging bull slam into my stomach. As I fall to the ground in pain, I see the blue streak grow into a full sized man in blue and red armor. The female speedster from a few hours ago zooms in next to him, and a tall form, similar in appearance to Cyborg, but made of full metal and glowing green highlights. Several SWAT gather around to gawk over the odd trio.

"Well Atom, I searched the house, you find anything?" the female speedster says to armored man.

"I'll need more time to search," Atom says. "Metallo, does the Grid have any schematics of the house?"

The android, Metallo, answers in a low, cold voice. "Negative."

"You have a way with hiding things, but Atom and Metallo here will no problem with picking this place apart to find what we need to know of," the speedster says. "Let's get you to prison," she says, right before I drift away into unconsciousness, the pain in my stomach nigh unbearable.

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To clarify, as my outfit descriptions are pretty sub par, Jesse Quick and Atom look similar to their CW incarnations, and Metallo is more or less similar in appearance to Grid from Injustice 2.

Please tell me what y'all think in a review, and maybe tell me if you'd rather see Bruce in prison in the next chapter or how everyone reacts to Bruce's capture.


	26. Chapter 26

Forgot to mention that Jesse also took Deathstroke and Boomerang from the Batcave II, I've updated that detail in chapters 22 and 23.

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 **Batman POV**

As I open my eyes, the first thing I realize is that my body is numb. I can't feel anything, can't move anything but my eyes. Can't even open my mouth. I try to figure out what's happened to me by peering out of the edges of my vision, but this is ineffectual. The agonizingly bright fluorescent lights on the ceiling don't help my case.

I hear the creak of a door opening and shoes tapping briskly over linoleum. A face appears above mine, a man with a triumphant smile. "Nice to see you awake Mr. Wayne," Luthor says. "I wouldn't even bother trying to break those bindings. We injected you with a new drug manufactured by my sister over at Luthorcorp. It will keep your motor skills numbed for a few hours.

"I gave you leeway you know," the president says, still staring down at me. "You could've just handed over the metahumans. You of all people should know humanity doesn't need these 'gods' ruling over us. We as a species were doing fine without those metahumans, but then they came along and made things on Earth all the more difficult to live with.

"You and I are clear representations of what humanity can achieve. We don't need to hide behind the metahumans, we don't have to rely upon them, but so many people wanted so badly to let them carry our burdens. The metas have the power to wipe out the entire human race. After Metropolis, the public realized there was a chance, albeit minute, that they could be our enemies. I acted upon this, and I expected you, the Batman of all people, to agree with me."

I want to tell Luthor that he's wrong, that humanity is doomed because there is a catastrophic war on the horizon, between two of the most powerful beings in existence. Humankind wouldn't stand a chance against Trigon or Darkseid without metahuman defenders, but my mouth is literally sealed. If I could have, I would have planted a good punch to his face, but he has shut my body down like a coward.

"You protect the girl, the speedster, the Lantern, as if they actually matter more than you. Bruce, you could have been a great man, a fear inspiring avenger, an ordinary man doing the same good as I, getting rid of the threats to human welfare, but no. You fancy yourself a white knight, a defender of all, even those who are too risky, too powerful to be kept free. You disappoint me in many ways," he says. I hear the door open, as two pairs of footsteps tread over a the floor. A doctor wearing a surgeon's mask is visible at the corner of my eyes, and before I know it, I am sent back into a deep sleep.

 **Damian Wayne POV**

"What do you mean you couldn't find him," I say, feeling my stomach bubble with anger at the speedster in front of me on the Arkham Island dock. We had been taken here by Kara and Eobard, and the cave underneath the Asylum was being prepared for being lived in for the time being.

"I tried my best Damian, but the cave was empty, the house was damaged from a fight. It doesn't seem like he made it. It's been hours, there's no way Bruce wouldn't have contacted us by now," Thawne says. I feel that anger spike up again, but I try and keep it under control.

Kara and Jessica land next to us at the dock we are standing at, their faces full of worry. "Barbara intercepted some radio chatter… Bruce was taken away," Kara says, her face pained.

"No. I refuse to believe that. My father is a master of escape and various forms of combat, there is no way he was taken down by those donut-inhaling GCPD bozos," I tell her, because it can't be anything but the truth. My father had taken down some of the greatest criminals and lowlife scum in the world… being defeated by deadbeat city police didn't seem like an even remote possibility.

"She's telling the truth," Jessica says. "They were all talking about Bruce being beaten, how he bled, went down in a couple blows."

"Don't lie to me Cruz," I tell her. "My father isn't weak."

"She's not lying," Kara says, holding my shoulder. "I'm sorry Damian. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I miss him too, and it's only been hours." I look at her, see her close to tears, and I feel my anger slowly ebb away. I should've known I wouldn't be the only one affected by Father's arrest. Kara had seem him as a parental figure, but it had never occurred to me how much she truly cared for him.

Father's absence had damaged morale pretty badly for our team of sorts, and as his son, I realize that I have to be brave for all of them. That's what Father would want me to do. To lead them. Blind denial won't change the fact that the Batman is lost to Luthor.

"Kara," I tell her, "we'll get through this. If Father really is gone, we have to get him back."

"We have no idea where he is," Thawne says.

"And we lost to just one speedster woman…" Jessica says. "if Luthor has more metahumans that he's keeping from the public…"

"Then we stand no chance," Kara says.

"That's why Father said for us to rally more metahumans. You three can't be the only ones out there," I tell them. "There have to be more metahumans out there than you three. They've lived in fear for long enough, _hidden_ long enough. It's time we give them something to strive towards. It's time we show them Luthor's time is over. That not all superhumans are evil."

"How do you suppose we do that?" Kara says. "We don't know where to look."

"We find them ourselves."

 **Batman POV**

I awake on the top of one of two twin beds in a prison cell, the front of which is a transparent purple shield projectio; through it i can see a block of duplicate holding cells. My body is sore, and covered in a drab blue-gray jumpsuit, but to my relief, I am able to move again. Well, move as much as I can with the cuffs holding me against the steel railing of the bedpost. I try and yank them off, but they dig into my flesh unlike any metal I've ever seen.

"Don't bother," I hear from as I see a guard approach, wielding a rifle I wears a heavily armored, gunmetal gray exo suit and helmet with black visor. "We wouldn't trust you with either hand free."

"Wouldn't trust this guy either," another guard says, walking up to his friend. This new guard has his hand grasped around a blindfolded man's back; he is undoubtedly handcuffed behind his back. I look to my side and see that there are a pair of cuffs attached to the bedpost of the other bed.

The guard opens the energy field door by inputting some kind of code, and the blindfolded man if forced down onto the bed and cuffed to the bedpost by one guard while the other keeps his gun trained on the prisoner. The whole time he is being subjugated to their treatment of him, I hear a string of curses in a familiar voice. After both arms are cuffed to the bedpost, one of the guards removes the blindfold, and I am met with the face of one of the most dangerous men in the world.

"Have fun you two," one of the guards says as he reactivates the energy field. My cellmate turns his head to glare at me through his one good eye, his empty right eye socket menacing without its usual eyepatch covering.

"Wayne," Slade says. "What a pleasant surprise."

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Please review!


	27. Chapter 27

_Long time, no update; here's chapter 27. Thanks to everyone who's reading this story!_

 **Batman POV**

If it weren't for the cuffs holding me down to the bed, I would've knocked half his teeth out. Deathstroke stares at me, as if daring me to do something. I refuse to give him that satisfaction.

"So you're the mighty Batman," he says with a smirk. "Wouldn't have expected a rich boy like you to be a vigilante jumping over rooftops in a bat costume and hiding criminals from Lex Luthor."

"There's a lot you don't know Slade," I tell him, trying not to let my anger show. Luthor has put me in a cell with one of my despised foes; he wants to mess with my head.

"Enlighten me," he says. "Waller has been messing with the whole squad, just to get to this damned Kryptonian girl. I only obeyed cause there's a damn bomb in my neck, and now that she's killed the squad, and that Boomerang fool and I are the only ones left, they've decided to move on. And guess what? They don't want us ratting them out, so they decided to keep us here."

"Where exactly is here?" I ask him, deciding to get some answers.

"Wouldn't tell you if I knew," Slade says. "The only way we can get sunlight is in the courtyard in the center of the prison, where we rarely ever go to."

"This place is a blacksite I never knew about," I tell myself, feeling irritance at my current predicament.

"Blacksite definitely sounds like it. Those guards are equipped with gear so advanced it shouldn't even exist. Theorizing where we are doesn't do us any good, though, does it Batman?" he says.

"I don't find enjoyment in this any more than you do," I say.

"Maybe if you had handed over the girl then neither of us would be in this situation," Slade says, reigniting the anger I was trying my best to suppress.

"She's a sixteen year old girl whose home is in ruin. She just wants to do good like he did," I snap. "She's a hero to many in this cruel world—"

"And an enemy to others," Slade says. "My daughter, the only family I had left, is dead because of that. The age of heroes is dead Batman. We don't need freaks in capes dictating their rules on us. They ruin what they touch."

"You were the ones who went after Supergirl, Slade," I say back to him.

"Not like I had a choice Batman. Waller made me do it, she threatened to blow my head off, all of Task Force X. Do you think it was a cakewalk? Do you think that I relish killing children?" Slade spits at me.

"You've always struck me as an honorable man, Slade," I tell him. "I never would've imagined you'd compromise your morals, even if Waller could end you. I never thought that you'd target a teenager."

"She's a dangerous teenager, that much I now see," Slade says, letting out a deep breath. "People change Batman. Luthor and Waller are two birds of a feather. I don't like this anymore than you do, but they've got me on a leash. I want to bring them down just as much as you, but we aren't in any position to do so."

"Why don't we fix that?"

 **Jessica Cruz POV**

It's been a week since Bruce went missing, and we have yet to know where he is. Damian, Dick, Jason, and Barbara are working harder than ever; while Alfred decided to stay at the inherited Wayne Manor, everyone else would never leave Arkham Island in groups, with the boys taking turns leaving the island in night patrol shifts.

Kara, Eobard, and I would train with Dick or Jason as well, but Dick suggested we don't leave the island in costume until we find Bruce. While Thawne couldn't leave because of his sporadic speed force comas and I chose not to leave (and had no problem doing so), Kara would disappear a lot. At first it worried all of us, but Damian always managed to find her.

I don't blame her for wanting to get away from this world; I couldn't imagine being her in position, an alien in a world that wanted her dead. I don't know where she goes, but it seems like Damian knows. They got close after the the whole Batcave situation, and despite the severity of our problems, I'm glad she's got him. We need all the support we can get.

That's why Dick suggested I talk to my sister, Sara. I don't know how I could forget about her, but so many things happened. After the ring came to me, I never returned to my apartment. I didn't have a cell phone, so my only means of communications was a landline in my room. After I left for Oa, I totally forgot about my sister. As soon as Dick asked if there was any family I could talk to, Sara came to mind, and I was overwhelmed with guilt. She was probably losing her mind over her missing sister.

Now, I'm standing in front of Sara's apartment, totally unsure what to say. ' _Hey sis, I know I've been missing for weeks, but it's because I've been chosen to be a superhero and I've been training.'_ Yes, even in my head it sounds ridiculous.

I decide I'll just knock on the door and make something up as I go along. I've barely rapped my knuckles against the wood when my sister opens the door. I barely get a glimpse of her as she slams into me, arms around me, her hair brushing the side of my face. "Where have you been Jess?" she demands, voice shaky. "I've been worried sick!"

I feel a dilemma coming on as my sister hugs me with such relief and love. I don't know if I should tell her the truth. Telling her that I'm a Green Lantern was the least I could do for her after stressing her out for weeks, but I couldn't help but feel paranoid that something bad would happen if I told her. What if Luthor found out who I was and tried to find me through her? What if A.R.G.U.S. used her as leverage to lure me out? There were so many ways revealing my secret could endanger Sara. Not to mention she'd think I'm crazy!

"Jess, you okay?" she asks, eyebrow raised in concern. Screw it. I need to tell her. She's my sister.

"Sara, I need to show you something…" I say, reaching into my jean pocket to take out the ring.

"You bought…a ring?" she asks me, not realizing that what I was holding was the most advanced weapon in the universe. Knowing that I can't go back now, I slip the ring onto my finger and feel the familiar warmth of the uniform covering my body.

"Long story short, I'm a Green Lantern!" I tell her, breaking out in a smile involuntarily. I was entrusting her with such a deep secret, one she'd have to keep to herself. I was so busy freaking out over how much I didn't deserve the ring that I never realized how much of an awesome gift it was.

"OH MY GOD!" Sara screams, her grin wider than mine. "No way that… You… HOW?! Jess this is so cool!"

"The ring came to me the night that Supergirl revealed herself to the world. When I learned about her, I was so excited… I just ran through the streets. I fell asleep in the park, some creep started perving over me, I kicked him between the legs, then the next thing I knew, the sky was glowing green and the ring told I was chosen to become a Green Lantern," I tell her, still disbelieving of what happened to me.

"That ring couldn't have chosen a better host," Sara says with a smile. "My sister's a superhero! This is just so…surreal."

"I don't get it… Why I have this ring," I tell her. "I've been trying to figure out why this happened for a while."

"I don't find it so hard to believe," she says. "You're really stubborn, which I'd say is pretty close to willpower. You don't waver against your ideals, and you always supported superheroes, even after Luthor was elected. Not to mention you conquered your greatest fear, the outside world."

"I don't know… Do you really think I can do it? Be a superhero?" I ask her. "So far, I don't feel like I'm making a change."

"You need to stop doubting yourself," she says, grabbing my shoulders. "You deserve this. Of all the people in the world who could be a hero, you were the one that fate chose. That has to count for something."

"You really think that?" I ask, surprised she isn't having a panic attack over me.

"I _know_ that, Jess."


	28. Chapter 28

**Batman POV**

It's true what they say: desperate times call for desperate measures. Slade and I were always enemies, ever since the first time I bested him in hand-to-hand combat years ago, but I knew that he was nothing if not a man of honor; an eye for an eye. I didn't doubt that he'd be after Luthor's head once he escaped, and only then would I intervene. I knew I wouldn't be able to escape all by myself, and I decided that I should recruit my own team, Slade being my first ally. As for the rest, it would all depend on who A.R.G.U.S. had decided to keep at this blacksite.

Slade warned me about how many of my foes were being held here with us; Black Mask, Penguin, and Two-Face held a lot of influence over the other inmates. It went without saying that I had to get out of here before one of them got me; a couple dozen thugs may not be too much trouble, but now I'm in a facility packed with a few hundred killers gunning for me. No doubt they would all outnumber me when given the chance.

As I walk into the cafeteria for breakfast the next day, there isn't a single set of eyes that isn't trained on me; too many. Some I recognize—like Bane, the Ventriloquist, and even the Rogues—while others are unrecognizable, probably dangerous street scum I'd never crossed paths with. They all shared one feature, however. They all had murder and hatred in their eyes. No doubt my crime fighting career had directly or indirectly affected them or their friends. The only things that stopped them from trying to take me down were the heavily armored guards standing against the walls, their rifles at the ready, as if willing anybody to step out of line.

The guards escorting Slade and I force us down at a table, leaving our legs cuffed, as a tray with what looks to be stale bread, burnt sausages, and soggy scrambled eggs is placed in front of each of us. Having not eaten for over a day, I begrudgingly start to eat with the plastic utensils handed to me. I look around, I see more of the inmates being similarly placed at their own tables. More guards march in, and a pair of women are forced down at next to Slade and I at the table; two women who I recognize, women that both know me very well.

"Lover."

"Bruce."

They speak at the same time. Talia al Ghul and Selina Kyle. The only two women I'd allowed myself to become close to. Luthor knows that. Looking at the two of them, I can sense the mutual resentment. Seeing as they were brought in at the same time, I assume that they are cellmates.

Talia seems composed, just as I remembered. She doesn't seem bothered by those around her, letting off a regal air as always, but she avoids Selina.

"So the rumors are true," Talia says, crossing her arms.

"I never thought they'd get to you," Selina says, running her fingers through her hair nervously. She seems much less composed than Talia, despite the attitude I remembered her having. What happened to you, cat? "There was some buzz going around that Bruce Wayne was being arrested, but I didn't think for a second that Luthor would have really gone after you."

"It was only a matter of time," Talia tells her in a matter of fact tone. "Luthor is a man who would be willing to exploit any advantage possible to eliminate opposition."

"I will always be a target," I tell them. "This is just a setback."

"A setback? I've been stuck in here for years at this point!" Selina says. "They tortured me like hell for trying to escape. Multiple times. I don't want that for you." I feel anger starting to boil in my stomach. The fact they hurt her, tried to break her… It just made me want to get out of here even more.

"If he wants to try, he's more than welcome," Talia says. "Do not let your failure speak for anyone but yourself." Selina glares at Talia, before exhaling in aggravation, getting a chuckle out of Slade. Something tells me they've been going at each other for a while now. I know Selina wasn't really on the happiest of terms when she found out about Damian and the fact that Talia was his mother.

"Look, what I'm saying is, you need to have a strategy Bruce. They won't let you live if you try and escape. Those guards will make up any excuse they can to have you executed," Selina says.

"I do have a plan," I tell her, looking at Slade, who nods curtly. Selina and Talia would both be assets for this prison break; they're both people I trust, and that number is very low here. They've been here longer than Slade or I have, so they know the place better than we do.

"Wayne is forming a team, with me," Slade says. "We both want out, and I'm willing to help him. I assume you two don't want to be here either?"

"It's better for us to fight together," I add. "I need to get out there. There is a crisis coming, and I need to avert it. I need your help—both of you."

"And then what lover? You'll just try and get us to join your blind crusade, like our son?" Talia asks, clearly unenthusiastic with my offer. "You're safer in here than out there. Luthor will have what's coming to him, eventually. Besides, whoever is left of the League of Assassins will come for me and reign hell upon this prison. You could come with me, lover. Escape all of this. Just give it time."

"Where's your league been searching, then?" Selina asks venomously. "It's been almost two years since you've been here, and your 'League of Assassins' still hasn't come to save you. I'm with you, Bruce. Always have been, always will be."

"You let your decisions be swayed by your heart, rather than logic," Talia says with a scoff. "How much more naive can you prove to be."

Selina stands up, scowling intensely. "At least I have a heart."

Talia gets up too, so that they're both glaring at each other at eye level. "This is interesting," Slade says with a smirk.

"You know I could kill you, with just enough force. Slash your throat open with this knife," Talia says, holding up the knife in her hand.

"That's enough you two," I tell them, but I'm too late. Two of the armored guards in the room approach the table.

"Kyle, al Ghul, you are stripped of meal privilege for the next forty-eight hours," one of the guards says, cuffing Selina and Talia as they are escorted out of the dining hall.

"That went well," Slade says, biting on an overcooked sausage.

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New Years resolution: get more writing done (hopefully :P). Review if you enjoyed!


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